


Finding Each Other

by Heartlove689



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Character Death, Consensual Underage Sex, Drama, Eventual Smut, Explicit Language, F/M, Fluff, Gun Violence, Non-Graphic Violence, Sexual Violence, Sick Character, Smut, Swearing, Teen Romance, Tragedy, Underage Sex
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-23
Updated: 2015-10-19
Packaged: 2018-03-25 09:52:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Underage
Chapters: 37
Words: 79,753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3806074
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Heartlove689/pseuds/Heartlove689
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shelter. Food. Water. Clothes. Family.<br/>The things we took for granted before all of this.</p><p>Shelter, we've had many. From the quarry outside of Atlanta to the CDC. Hershel's farm to the prison where we thought we'd thrive. The prison was taken from us and destroyed in the process.</p><p>After the events in Atlanta with Beth, we left for D.C. On the way, we joined a large group in Virginia called Alexandria safe zone. He said it was safe, but it wasn't. It fell just like every other place.</p><p>D.C. was a bust. It was over run just like every other place. Now we're back on the road. We came across three survivors that heard of a place in Maine. As a final hope of surviving, we're heading there after winter and Maggie has the baby.</p><p>We'll find a place. We have to find a place.</p><p>The events in this fan fiction won't be going in sync with the show. Some characters in the show might be dead when this story takes place.<br/>The only characters I have rights to are the OCS. The actual characters from the walking dead, I do not own.<br/>The events in this fan fiction will be taking place four years after everything started.<br/>With that being said, I hope you all enjoy my first fan fiction.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue Part 1: McKayla

**Author's Note:**

> For reference only:  
> Important Characters
> 
> THE ORIGINAL GROUP  
> Darl Dixon- Norman Reedus  
> Carl Grimes- Chandler Riggs  
> Merle Dixon- Michael Rooker (Only in it at the beginning)
> 
> THE NEWCOMERS  
> Raymond Chambers- Blair Underwood  
> Christie Chambers- Michelle Rodriguez  
> Antonio Rimenez- Antonio Banderas  
> McKayla Dixon- Julianne Hough  
> Mattie Lynn Dixon- Peyton List
> 
> THE ORIGINAL FOUR  
> Flan- Jonathon Tucker  
> Mathey- Alex Pettyfer  
> Izzie- Phoebe Tonkin  
> Aaron- Michael Fassbender
> 
> IMPORTANT NEW HAVEN SAFE ZONE  
> Dr. Johnathon "Whit' Whitaker- Sean Connery  
> Brett Albright- Tom Hardy

Prologue Part 1: McKayla  
“I love you Daryl. You better be careful up there.” I tell him as I look directly into his blue eyes. His mouth perks up into a smile before moving closer to me  
“I love you,” he said before kissing me on the forehead. “I’ll be home Sunday.” He grabs my hand and pulls me into his arms. I wrap my arms around his waist and place my head on his chest. I feel him pull away before grabbing my face in between his hands and planting a kiss on my lips.  
It’s that time of year again, June, once again when Daryl goes on a weekend hunting trip with his brother Merle and my brother Aaron. Those weekends drives both of us nuts because where they go, there’s zero cell reception. So if something were to happen on either end, it would take a while for either party to know. It worries me every single time, even after thirteen years of doing this.  
“You better keep a close eye on Daryl for me Merle.” I tell Merle as I give him a hug.  
Whether people want to, believe it or not, Merle does have a soft spot. We figured it out the day Daryl and I had Mattie Lynn. He lit up and smiled when he held her for the first time. We even saw a small tear roll down his cheek. Of course. he played it off saying something flew in it. Daryl and I were very happy that it was this kind of wake-up call he needed.  
His attitude towards life changed. He started to take care of himself. Started going to AA meetings and even went into drug counseling program. When he finally got a job we celebrated but that all changed when he got hurt on the job and he had to be put on disability. Once again, he became addicted to prescription pills and then eventually crystal meth.  
“I will darlin’. You ‘bout ready there Forbes?’  
“Ya. I just gotta get this dang thing back on.” Aaron said as he grabs his prosthetic leg that was leaning up against the couch.  
Aaron lost his right leg ten years ago when he was serving in Iraq. The copter went down and his leg got pinned underneath it. We don’t talk about that day, well he doesn’t talk about that day. It changed him but he still acts the same for the most part.  
We all know that he’s in pain though even after so long but he acts like it doesn’t. We can tell with the amount he drinks on a bad day. On a good day, he might have a beer but on a bad day, he can sit there and nearly polish off an entire bottle of Jameson in one sitting. It makes me worry when he goes up to Merle’s cabin because those two being alone, only a matter of time before all hell breaks loose. Daryl reassures me that they’re fine but I don’t always believe him.  
“Someone wanna help me stand quick?” He asks and I walk to him to help him up.  
“Come on old man.” I say turning around and squatting down. This is the easiest way I found to help him up because of how small I am and how big he is.  
“Thanks and I’m not old.” I smile and he gives me a hug.  
We talk to each other for a few minutes before we hear Daryl and Mattie saying their “see you soons” to each other. Daryl gives me another quick kiss and he’s out the door. I smile when I see the angel wings on his vest that I got him over fifteen years ago. I stand there in the entrance before I remembered he didn’t give me his wedding band.  
“Daryl wait!” I yell running down the path to the truck. Daryl rolls down the passenger side window.  
“I need your band.” He nods and slides it off his finger. We’ve done this for the last thirteen years. Whenever they go hunting, I take his wedding band and put it on my necklace chain until he gets home. We don’t want anything to happen to it or get mucked up with what they gut out the animal.  
Some people don’t understand it because they think it’s giving Daryl the opportunity to cheat. I tell them that Daryl is the most faithful man I know and he’d never jeopardize his family by doing that. Plus Aaron and Merle would most likely kill him if he ever did so. He also knows that I can shoot straight.  
“I’ll see you Sunday.” I tell him as I put my necklace back on.  
“You will.” He cups my face with his left hand and kisses me quick. As they pull away, Merle honks and I watch the truck disappear down the street. I close my eyes and say a little prayer before heading back inside.  
When I walk inside, Mattie is on the floor playing with our four year old husky Koda. I walk up the stairs to finish getting ready before heading to Atlanta for my doctor’s appointment. The other day I took a pregnancy test that came out positive and I want to make sure before I tell Daryl or anyone else.  
We’ve had issues with fertility since Mattie and even before then. I had a miscarriage right before I got pregnant with her and a few after her. The doctors have tried everything to make sure it stops happening and they can’t figure out why it keeps happening. Daryl and I want more kids besides Mattie, we actually want a few.  
I tell Koda that it’s time for him to go into his cage which he starts to whimper. It breaks my heart to have to do this to him but we don’t have a choice. I can’t leave him in the car and we’ll be gone too long for him to be left out to roam by himself. Grabbing my purse, I tell Mattie that it’s time to leave. We walk to the car, hop in and begin our two hour trip to Atlanta.  
I wish my doctor was closer but she’s also the best. I just really hope this trip is worth it, I’m tired of being let down once again. I want to that ultrasound to show that the baby is healthy and that I’m actually pregnant. Negative pregnancy tests are one thing. False positives break my heart. Only time will tell though but I really hope that I am. Daryl and I want at least one more before we call it quits and fingers crossed that this is the one.  
***  
A little while later, Mattie and I get to Atlanta and everything is different. Military vehicles, barricades, lines of cars stretching down the highway leading into the city. I could see people getting out of their cars and walking with their families but I didn’t want to get out. Something about barricades and military personnel, just didn’t feel right. I wanted to know what was going on but at the same time I wanted to get out of here.  
“Mom, what’s going on?” Mattie asked as she slowly drifted awake.  
“I don’t know baby. Whatever it is, I don’t think we should be sticking around to find out.” I continued to look out the front window to see if I could see anything. But I couldn’t. Then I heard a knock on my window. A man in a sheriff’s uniform was tapping on my window.  
“Hello?” I said as I rolled down my window.  
“Ma’am. Everythin’ alright in there?”  
“Um, ya. Everythings fine. Do you have any idea what’s going on?” He just cocked his head and looked at me.  
“Did I say something wrong?”  
“Ma’am have you been listenin’ to the news?” I shook my head no and that’s when he introduced himself Shane Walsh. He asked me if I would step out of the car so he could talk to me alone because he didn’t want to freak out my daughter. I said yes and got out of the car. He then proceeded to tell me that they’ve been telling everyone to come to the cities. A cannibalistic infection has been spreading and the military has been setting up safe zones.  
I put my hands over my mouth and felt like I was going to be sick. My husband, brother and brother-in-law are all up in the mountains and they don’t know. There was no way they could’ve known because they never listen to the news. The only thing they have in Merle’s truck is that damn eight track. For all I know, they could already be dead right now.  
“Ma’am, are you alright?”  
“Ya, I’m fine. I need to get out of here though. I need to go find my husband.”  
“I’m sure he’s on his way here or already here.”  
“No he’s not. He’s up in the mountains hunting. He wouldn’t know anything about what is going on. I need to go find him.” Then like that, I was back in the car and pulling onto the side where there’s the concrete wall. I need to get out of here as quick as possible and back home. Maybe they found out and they came home or they made a detour to Merle’s quick. There’s a million possibilities and all of them are making me crazy.  
“Please be alright. Please be alive. For the love of God please don’t leave me yet Daryl.” And I was on route back home, driving as fast as I possibly could.  
***  
The entire drive was nothing but stressful. My heart felt like it was going to beat directly out of my chest and fall onto my lap. I’ve seen people running, shooting and driving erratically. The entire drive I had to keep reassuring Mattie that everything was going to be fine. That we’d be fine. I’m not sure who I was trying to convince more, me or her.  
In the distance I can see our house. It’s nothing major, just a two story house that Daryl and I took over after my mama died. Daryl suggested shortly after she died that we could always sell it and find a different place to live. There were times that I’d highly consider it but I didn’t want to move. That was the first and only time we’d ever talk about it. I pulled into the driveway and looked around to see if anyone was around. Mattie was sleeping again in the passenger seat. I shook her lightly to wake her up to tell her I was running inside.  
“Mattie, I’m going inside. Do you need anything?”  
“No. Maybe some books. Where are we going mama?”  
“I don’t know yet baby girl. I do not know.” I lean over and kiss her on the forehead before heading inside. Once I was inside, I went straight upstairs and went into the closet to retrieve my weapons. I’m not sure why I feel like I need them but it’s just something that feels right. I grab my key for my gun case that’s behind my dresser and open the closet door to retrieve the case. Opening the case to reveal my SIG-Sauer P226 with four already loaded magazines in it and a silencer. I take it out and check the magazine that’s already in it.  
“Okay, I have five full magazines that have ten rounds in each. That’s fifty rounds in total.” I take a deep breath before I end up having a panic attack. I’m talking but shooting a gun. Of course I know how to shoot, this is my gun. It’s registered to me. I take the foam out to reveal another two boxes of ammo and the shoulder holster. Taking another deep breath, I slip off my sweater and put on my shoulder holster on. I check the gun one more time to make sure the safety is on and put it in the holster. Grabbing my sweater, I put that back to hide the fact that I’m caring a gun. Then I quickly throw everything back inside of the case and go back into my closet to retrieve my PSE Fever Compound bow.  
I don’t really need to go through it because I watched Daryl go through it earlier in the week. He had to get something out of my case because he couldn’t find it in his. The last thing I grab is my hunter’s knife. I’m still trying to figure out why I have this, especially since I don’t hunt but I never argued with those three. Merle said it was to cut Daryl’s balls off if he ever cheated which then Aaron quickly agreed to. Daryl automatically started to say he’d never do anything that dumb, at least not to me. I knew of Daryl’s past before me. He wouldn’t be the man I love today if it wasn’t for his past. And the women he slept with before me, doesn’t and has never mattered.  
I quickly finished getting everything else I needed and through it in a duffle bag. Then I ran into Mattie’s bedroom to get some of her stuff. Shirts, pants, socks, extra pair of shoes and hoodies. As soon I got the last item inside of the duffle bag, I heard banging downstairs.  
“Mattie?” There was no answer.  
“Daryl?” Once again no answer.  
“Hello? Is there someone there?” I waited and then I heard footsteps coming up the stairs. Taking a deep breath, I retrieved my gun from my holster, took the safety off and slowly opened the door. I could see a figure walking slowly down the hallway but I still couldn’t see who it was.  
“You can do this McKayla. You’re a Forbes and a Dixon. You can do this.” I say quietly to myself.  
“Don’t take another step.” I say louder. The figure stopped for a moment, then continued walking towards me. I open the door with my gun aimed and my eyes couldn’t believe what I was seeing. A person covered nearly head to toe in blood. Jaw nearly ripped off. Eyes that were almost completely white. I was in shock and then it lunged forward.


	2. Prologue Part 2: Daryl

Prologue Part 2: Daryl  
“What the hell is goin’ on?” I say looking out the window and seeing everyone putting all their stuff into their vehicles. The men are practically picking up their women and children and throwing them into the vehicles. It looks like everyone is either screaming, crying or yelling at each other.  
“I have no clue Daryl.” Aaron replied. I sit back and watch all the cars begin to scatter. Somethin’ seriously don’t feel right. I trust my gut more than anythin’ and my gut is tellin’ me that we need to turn back now. Somethin’ is wrong.  
“Merle, turn around and go back home.”  
“Daryl, don’t you be freakin’ out on us. Everythin’ is fine.” Aaron said.  
“Everythin’ is not fine. Why the hell are these people leavin’ if everythin’ is fine? Merle, turn this damn truck around.” As soon as I said that, Merle slammed on the breaks which resulted in me lunging forward; slamming my head into Aaron’s seat. Once I finally came back from smacking my head, I looked out the front window to see men in uniforms pointing guns at us.  
“What the hell is this?” I say. Then a soldier taps out on the window and Aaron nods to Merle to roll down the window.  
“Can I see your ID’s please?” said the man. We all listened and handed them over. The man looked older but not as old as me at least I don’t think.   
“First Sergeant Aaron Forbes?” the officer said and Merle turned his head to look directly at Aaron.  
“That’s me.” Aaron said after taking a deep breath.  
“Can you please step out of the vehicle sir?” Aaron tells him yes but to give him a second. Then asks me for his cane. Even after ten years, he still has issues standing for a certain length of time. He opens the door, puts his cane to the ground and steps out. The soldier that was originally talking to us on Merle’s side is now standing in front of the vehicle talking to Aaron.  
***  
“Merle, you need to drive a hell of a lot faster.”  
“Stop tellin’ me what the hell to do baby brother.”  
“Well then maybe ya should’ve let me drive.” I heard Merle huff under his breath and the silence refilled the truck. I really hope that those two are still there. They need to be there.  
A few minutes later we pull up to the house and I don’t wait for Merle to stop before jumping out. I run up the path and open the front door. I freeze in the doorway. My brain is trying to comprehend the scene in front of me.  
“Daryl?” I hear Merle say and he bumps into me as he stands by my side.  
“Daryl, come one. You’re not going inside. We’re leavin’. Get your ass back in the truck.” Merle says grabbing my arm. I shrug him off and take a step forward. He grabs me again but this time, he wraps his arms up around my shoulders and then drags me backwards to the truck. I could barely fight him. My body went numb.  
There was so much blood. There was no way they made it out of there alive. I’ve lost them. McKayla. Mattie. Even Koda. I’ve lost all of them.  
Merle gets me into the truck and heads for the driver’s seat. I’m still trying to process everything. Merle gets in and starts the truck back up. He pulls out of the driveway and starts driving. I don’t even know where were going; and right now I really don’t care. I don’t care about anything anymore.  
A while later, we pull up to Merle and Aaron’s place forty five minutes northeast of where we live. Merle hops out and heads inside. Someway, somehow, I get my legs to move and join him inside.  
I sat down on the couch and leaned forward, putting my head in my hands. My entire body started to shake uncontrollably and I felt tears springing from my eyes. I haven’t felt this way since McKayla was rushed into the operating room when she had Mattie. It felt like I died a thousand times that day and I feel the same way today.  
“Daryl.” I hear Merle say but I didn’t look up at him. I heard him walk towards me and he put his hands on my shoulder.  
“Daryl, it’ll be fine. We’ll get through this. We always do. You have to be strong.”  
“How the hell do you suppose I do that Merle? I just lost everything.”  
“You haven’t lost me baby brother and you won’t. We’re Dixon’s. We’re meant to survive. No matter what.” I know he’s right but I don’t want to. I don’t want to survive without them. They are my everything. They were my everything and now they’re both gone. They’re just gone.  
A while later, after I’m finally able to move, I hear Merle outside. I go out there to see what he’s doing and I see him putting his motorcycle in the back of the truck.  
“Merle, what the hell are ya doin’?” I ask.  
“Packin’ up my shit. We’re headin’ to Atlanta, where Aaron told us to go.”  
“Merle, that was before we found out about McKayla and Mattie.” Merle stopped what he was doing and looked directly me.  
“Daryl, we don’t know shit right now. Her car was not in the driveway. We’re headin’ to Atlanta whether you like it or not. Even if that means I have to knock your sorry ass out and put you in this truck.” I know Merle’s words aren’t supposed to come out harsh but right now that’s the way I’m takin’ it.  
I shake my head and walk to the passenger side and hop in. Shortly after that Merle joins me and we head off towards Atlanta. The place where Aaron told us to go. Just hope it’ll be worth it. Hope everythin’ will be worth it.


	3. Prologue Part 3: Aaron

Prologue Part 3: Aaron  
“I’m sorry, I didn’t realize…”  
“It’s alright. Why’d you have me step outside of the vehicle?”  
“We’re asking all military personnel retired and enlisted to help out.”  
“Help out with what?”  
“Sir that’s classified.”  
“You’re standing there tellin’ me that you need my help, then telling me it’s classified when I ask for what, you expectin’ me to just oblige?”  
“Sir, you need to calm down.”  
“I’m calm. I’m just makin’ an observation. Who’s in charge around here?”  
“That would be Sergeant Patrick Flannery.” At least I technically still out rank him even with me being retired or not.  
“Can you call him over here please?” I ask and he says fine then walks over to him. I watch him talking to the Sergeant and I walk back to the vehicle quickly before they return. Merle rolls the window back down so we can talk.  
“What the hell Aaron?”  
“Merle, Daryl, somethin’ is going on. They’re askin’ for military personnel of all kinds to help them. I’m tryin’ to get more information. That man over there, I still out rank him even though I’m no longer in. I’m trying for the elder complex.” I tell them and then I see the two soldiers walking towards the truck. I tell Merle and Daryl to hold on then walk towards them.  
“Sergeant Flannery I presume.” I say.  
“Yes, that’s me. What can I do for you?”  
“I’d like to know what’s goin’ on. I know the United States military wouldn’t be asking retired soldiers unless it’s absolutely needed.”  
“Sir, you aren’t eligible to know.”  
“Let me explain somethin’ to you Sergeant. Whether you like to believe or not that I’m eligible or not that’s up to you. But if you want my help, whether I have a bum leg or not, you might want to cough up some information.”  
“Sir, it’s not like that.”  
“And why’s that?”  
“Sir, we’re not even sure what’s going on exactly. I got a call saying to stop every vehicle and ask if there’s any military personnel. I’m only following orders. But we’d still like your help. I radioed in and I told them about you. They know exactly who you are. They’d like me to escort you to them.”  
“Them who?”  
“The Pentagon and the President of the United States.” I look back over to Merle and Daryl still sitting patiently in the truck. I take a deep breath and run my fingers through my hair.  
“Can they come with?”  
“Sir, we’re not able to take civilians at this moment.”  
“They’re my family. I have a sister and a niece as well a couple hours south. Whatever is going on, ya’ll are making it sound bad.”  
“I’ll make sure that we escort your family to the safe zone down in Atlanta. That’s where we’re sending civilians right now.” I look down and shake my head. I’ve left my family more times than I’d like to admit and it was due to my obligation I made to this country. Even ten years after I lost my leg and was honorably and medically discharged, I still have an obligation to this country.  
I know I have an obligation to my family as well but this is how I can protect them. I fought so I knew they would be safe. And I’ll continue to fight so I know I’ll be safe.  
“Okay. I’m in. Just let me talk to them real quick.” The soldier nods and I walk back to the truck. In the process I wave to them to get out of the truck. Once they were both out and we were standing in front of the truck; I decided to tell them what was going on.  
At first they were pissed, especially Daryl. He didn’t understand how he was supposed to explain to his sister about what I was doing.  
“You need to go find McKayla and Mattie. Take them to Atlanta. That’s where they’re saying they’ve established a safe zone.”  
“A safe zone for what? Aaron what the hell is going on?”  
“Daryl, I don’t know what’s going on. I’ll come find you guys once I know. Now get the hell in the truck and go find my sister and niece.” I watched them get into the truck and begin to drive to drive away. I see the two soldiers that will be escorting me to where I’m needed. Steady and quickly, I begin to walk right next to them without missing a beat.  
The first soldier that stopped us, told me his name was Specialist Johnathon Mathey. He asked me why I walk with a cane and I pulled up my pant leg to reveal a titanium rod. Mathey told me he’s never seen an amputee soldier and I proceeded to tell him that I wouldn’t change my outcome even if I had the chance.  
If I ended up not having anything happen to me that day, I’d still be in. And then who knows what would’ve happened. I would most likely still be alive but at the same time, I’m happy that I just lost my leg. Others in my unit, lost more than that. They lost their lives fighting for their country and for their families.  
I just really hope I’m making the right decision by going with these guys. I really hope I get to see my family again. I followed Private Mathey and Sergeant Flannery to the Humvee. Mathey walks ahead of me and opens the door to the front passenger door for me. I nod and hop in. It has been so long since I’ve been in one of these, it almost feels like a dream.  
A little bit later, we pulled into an open field that had a Boeing Ch-46 Sea Knight. My stomach flipped as soon as I looked at it. That was the type of helicopter I was in when I lost my leg and now I’m about to go back in one. What I’d do for drink.  
“You alright sir?”  
“Ya, let’s get this shit over with.” I say. Opening the door to the Humvee, I put my cane down onto the grass. As soon as I put my weight on my cane, it snaps and I fall straight to the ground.  
“Ya alright there mate?” Said a woman with thick Australian accent.  
“Ya I’m alright. My damn cane just broke.” I said the last few words slower as I laid my eyes on her. She was absolutely gorgeous. Dark brown hair pulled into a bun, deep brown eyes and an amazing smile. Next thing I knew, she reached out a hand to help me stand up. I grabbed it and she helped me stand back up.”  
“Thanks for helpin’ an old man up.”  
“You don’t look like an old bloke.”  
“Thanks. I’m Aaron Forbes.”  
“Nice to meet you, I’m Elizabeth Anderson. Everyone calls me Izzie though. I’m your pilot today.” And suddenly I’m not scared shitless in getting into that copter. I follow Izzie towards the Sea Knight and get in. They hand me a headset as I strap myself in.  
A younger gentleman that I haven’t seen before keeps staring me down. I began to stare at him right back. I know how to put fear into the eyes of younger soldiers.  
“This is Specialist Anderson, requesting permission to take off. Over.” I could hear only static coming from the other side.  
“This is Specialist Anderson, requesting permission to take off. Over.” Once again, nothing but static.  
“What’s going on Izzie?” I hear Flannery say as he takes his seat.  
“I’m not sure. I’m getting nothing but static from this damn radio.” We all started looking at each other. She does it again and still no change. Flannery told her to just take off. If something happens, we’ll explain. We needed to get to D.C. as quickly as possible.  
After a couple buttons and switches, the blades come to life on top of the Sea Knight. My anxiety level started to rise as I felt it begin to lift off the ground. Closing my eyes was about the only thing I could do at this moment in time.   
Picture a happy place or a happy time, is what my therapist always told me, so that’s what I did. I pictured my family in the back yard of my sisters. McKayla and Daryl being their usual lovey dovey selves. Merle getting drunk but not too drunk so he doesn’t turn into a complete asshole. My niece Mattie playing catch with Koda. I wonder if they’ll ever forgive me for leaving them like this. I really hope they do.  
Then I heard a bang. Flannery was yelling about something but I couldn’t make it out. The bang brought me back to the time I lost my leg.  
“Ya alright back there Forbes?” I hear Izzie say.  
“Ya I’m alright. What the hell was that?” Then we heard another bang, this time we see smoke in the direction of Atlanta.   
“Are they bombing Atlanta?” Izzie said.  
“It appears so.” Flannery replied. My heart sank. Why the hell are they bombing Atlanta? What the hell is going on?  
“This is Specialist Anderson, requesting information regarding the bombing. Over.” It’s a black out. I know it is. That’s why she can’t reach anyone.  
Izzie continued to fly in the direction of D.C. while I just sat back and relaxed. I wanted to cry but I didn’t want them to see me do so. If they were all in Atlanta during the bombing, that means I’ve lost my entire family. My mind began to race and I could feel myself having a panic attack.  
“Come on Forbes, stay calm now.” I told myself.  
“There’s no need for you to panic.” I take a deep breath and then I hear Izzie say something else over the radio. I ignored it though. I just needed to keep myself relaxed.  
“Not meanin’ to alarm anyone but I have to land.”  
“Why? We’re not even to D.C. yet.”  
“Well, you see here, apparently this wasn’t fueled up correctly. It’s starting to malfunction and I’d rather not be up high when it does.” As soon as she said that, the copter begins to descend to the ground without her doing so. I could hear her say mayday. I could see everyone panic. I just didn’t know what to do. I never know what to anymore.


	4. Just Another Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone is confused about why I'm posting all of these chapters back to back, there's a reason.  
> I was originally posting on www.walkingdeadfanfiction.com and something happened to Google's automatic sign in for that site. So now I can no longer sign in on my original username on that site.  
> I've been wanting to get this story on different sites for a while now and I've read plenty of stories on this site already. The process on getting on this site though took me a week to do.  
> But I'm here and I'll be posting a total of 21 chapters including the three-part prologue. There will be more chapters after that though. The story isn't over after that. It's going to be a semi-long story. Just work with me alright.

Just Another Day  
Daryl’s POV  
I can still hear the gun shots. I can still see all the blood spilling all over the floor. I can still hear Maggie screaming as I carried her lifeless sister out of that hospital in Atlanta. I can still see Beth’s blonde hair become red from her blood. I can still feel the warmth of Beth’s skin get colder with each passing second.  
What I don’t see though, is her blue eyes and warm smile. I don’t hear their laughter when I come home from being gone for a few days. I don’t hear the sound of them singing as we cook dinner as a family. I don’t remember how it felt to kiss her. I don’t remember what it felt to hold her. But most of all, I’m starting to forget the sound of her voice.  
I really miss her. I really just miss them in general. I still feel like I’m alone in this place I call hell. Even though it feels more like purgatory. There’s not a point going through all of this pain; just to feel like every part of your soul is being ripped apart little by little, day by day.  
I wake up half asleep, expecting it to be night still, but it’s not. I know I don’t sleep much but that’s because of the events in Atlanta and everything else in between that time. Every single time we think we found a safe place, something happens. Something always fucking happens.  
I just want to find a place that we know we will be safe. Where we don’t have to fight to survive every day from the walkers. But that’s always our biggest problems. We have to fight against the people that are still alive. We have to fight against hunger, rage, disease and anything else that may threaten us. We have to fight every single day.  
Yes, we could give up. Take the easy way out. Shoot ourselves in the head and who knows, we could join the family that we’ve lost on the other side. But that’s if there’s such thing as the other side. Quiet personally I don’t think there is another side. Never really have.  
Finally sitting up on the edge of my bed, I’m only wearing my boxers. I would sleep naked but people like to bother me in the middle of the night and I highly doubt any of them wants to see me that naked. I run my fingers through my hair just so it doesn’t look like it’s that messy. Now a days it really doesn’t matter what I do to my hair. It’s getting too damn long and most of the time, I just pull it back with my bandana.  
I stand up and grab my pants. Putting them on, I hear a knock on my door and I already know exactly who it is. Shaking my head, I walk over to the door to open it. When I open the door there’s a little girl with blonde hair standing there with a big smile.  
“Well hey there Judy. What are you doing?” I ask as she reaches up so I can pick her up. This is our morning ritual and I actually enjoy it. I walk with her into the kitchen and Rick starts laughing.  
“I found this knocking on my door. Anyone know who this is?” I ask joking.  
“Nope, never seen her before. She sure is cute though.” Rick says, standing up and walking towards me. He takes Judy out of my arms and goes to sit back down. Judith is now snuggling up into her daddy’s chest. Its mornings like these that makes my heart ache. I miss those days with Mattie.  
“Hey Daryl, can I talk to ya for a second?” I hear Carol say. I nod yes and we both head back into my room. Once we were both in there, I close the door and Carol sits down in the chair.  
“What’s going on?” I ask grabbing a shirt and throwing it on.  
“You’re still planning on going out on that run today right?” I nod my head yes and she looked at me.  
“Carol, what the hell is going on? You never ask me about a run.”  
“I wanted to see if you could talk to Rick about taking Carl. He needs to get out of here and not have Rick breathing down his neck every single day.”  
“And ya want him to come with me? Are ya nuts?” I shake my head trying to figure out why I had to be the one that had to talk to Rick.  
“Daryl, you’re the only one capable of taking him. You’ll be hard on him but that’s to keep him alert.” I take deep breath while shaking my head. He needs to learn more than what he already knows. He needs to learn how to track, I’ve taught a few of them already but I haven’t taught him. I look up and see Carol smiling at me.  
“You’re a pain in my ass, ya know that right.” It wasn’t a question, it was a fact. She smiles even bigger and stands up to walk over to me.  
“I know. But you wouldn’t have me any other way.” She leans up and kisses my forehead. Before leaving the room.  
I swear that woman is going to kill me one day but there’s nothing I can do about it today. I finish getting dressed and head back out where everyone is. Maggie and Glenn are now up and sitting at the large table. Maggie is eating a bowl of oatmeal which is resting on her large pregnant stomach. The sight of that still makes me laugh.  
I keep saying its twins but no one believes me. Then again, no one knows that I actually know a lot more about kids then they give me credit for. Yea, I know how to make a bottle when Lil’ asskicker was a baby but I acted like I had no clue. That was part of my act. No body needed to know about my life before this.  
Scanning the room, I see Rick heading outside and I decided to join him. I wanted a smoke anyways.  
As I walked outside, Rick looked directly at me and then turned his head away. I reached into my vest pocket and pulled a cigarette out of the pack. When I lit it, I could hear Rick chuckle.  
“What?”  
“I just don’t know who you can smoke those stale cigarettes.”  
“A smoke is a smoke. The only way I won’t is if it got wet. That’s a whole different level of being stale.” We both started to laugh. He said I guess so. I know Rick never smoked so he didn’t really understand it.  
“So where ya plannin’ on going today for your run?” I told him that I wasn’t sure but I wanted to keep it kind of close since we didn’t know the area yet. We found this place a few a days ago and it was still well stocked. But with the collection of dust on the mass majority of the food boxes, we knew no one had been here for a while.  
“Ya I don’t blame ya. Just make sure wherever you do go, you’ll know your way back in case something happens.” I nod and then take a long drag off my cigarette.  
“Actually, I wanted to talk to about the run.”  
“What about it?”  
“I wanted to see if it would be alright if I took Carl. I think it would be useful for me to teach him the ropes.” I watched as Rick pierced his lips together and shook his head. We stood there in silence for a while. By the time I finished my cigarette, he finally moved a little closer to me.  
“Daryl, if he goes out there with you. You need keep a close eye on him. I don’t trust anyone else but you to take him out on a run. So my answer is yes.” He puts his hand on my shoulder and heads back inside. This is going to be an interesting day.

McKayla’s POV  
Fear is what keeps you alert in this new world. Fear of the living. Fear of the dead. Fear of not knowing when or if you’re going to find food, shelter or water. Fear is what keeps you alive. Fear is what has kept me and my family safe.  
I’m not even sure what safe is anymore though. Safe used to be waking up in my husband’s arms. Safe was having a roof over my head, food in my stomach and knowing everything is going to be okay.  
We’re not safe anymore, no matter how hard we fight to survive. There’s always going to be someone stronger, someone smarter and someone quicker than you. I’ve kept myself and my two children alive by myself for the past four years and nothing is ever going to change that.  
I woke up today with the sun shining directly in my eyes. I should’ve close the blinds last night but I was exhausted. I’m always exhausted, we’ve been doing nothing but driving for the past two days. And after I finished the perimeter, the kids were sleeping, I decided I’d get some sleep myself. I’m not useful if I can’t even stay awake as I’m driving.  
After my eyes adjusted to the light, I began to stretch but then I realized that I couldn’t move my legs. I sat up a little bit to my dog Koda laying on my legs. I chuckled a little bit and sat up the rest of the way to move closer to him. As soon as I reached him my door swings opens and a dark haired blue eyed little boy is running towards me.  
“Mommy!” He yells as he jumps on me and wakes Koda up in the process. Koda huffs and jumps off the bed. He never really likes being woken up because he’s a big baby.  
“Morning baby boy.” I say cuddling him in my arms.  
“I tried to let you sleep in as much as possible.” I hear from the door. My fifteen year old daughter is standing in the doorway with a smile.  
“It’s alright, I was awake.”  
“Okay, well I have everything packed. Just need to get it loaded.” Mattie says.  
“Mattie, you didn’t need to do that.”  
“Mom, we all have our jobs. I woke up early before DJ even got up. I even checked the perimeter.”  
“Mattie Lynn, I don’t like you going outside by yourself.”  
“Mom, I wasn’t alone. Koda came with me. He would let me know if there was danger around.” She says walking off. I’m starting to realize that I’m being too protective of her. She’s smart, I know I’ve taught her all I can but sometimes that’s not enough. Not in this world anymore.  
“Mommy, why is sissie mad?” DJ asks me.  
“Because your mama is too protective and your sister is a teenager.”  
“What does protective mean?” DJ asks in is little kid voice.  
“Protective means you’ll do anything so your family is safe.” Even if that means breathing down their neck constantly and I know that’s exactly what I do to her.  
“Oh okay.” He says jumping off the bed. I sit up slowly because lately I’ve been feeling light headed every time I move too quickly. Finally I get out of bed and take off my sweats. I grab my jeans and pull them up. That’s when the tremor in my hands start.  
“Oh come on, not again.” I say out loud as I try to button my jeans. The tremor, amongst other things, have gotten worse of the past few weeks. I know what it is unfortunately, even though I really don’t want to admit it myself. I don’t think Mattie has noticed though. God, I hope she hasn’t noticed.  
I finally buttoned my jeans and finished getting dressed. Throwing everything in bag, I double check to see if we missed anything. Luckily enough, I found more clothes, probably a lot more than we need but we could always trade it for something else down the road.

Carl’s POV  
There’s times when I sit back and think how my life should’ve been. Going to middle school, high school and eventually college. Getting a job a crummy job during high school and college. Quitting that job and getting a better job after college. Meeting the woman of my dreams. Getting married. Having kids together. Growing old together. That’s the way life should’ve have been.  
Life isn’t like that though. My life for the past four years has been nothing but tragedy really. Fighting every single day to survive, isn’t how a teenage guy should spend his day. Unfortunately there’s absolutely nothing I can do about it. There’s nothing anyone can do about it.  
There’s always that possibility that I could find someone like Glenn and Maggie found each other. Or even my dad and Michonne. There’s always that possibility. I’m just not sure if I could handle losing someone that I love though.  
When I lost my mother shortly after Judith was born, I did go into a dark place. I stayed in that dark place for a while and I know my father did as well. There was nothing he could do. He wasn’t there. I was. I watched my mother die and being that young, there was nothing I could even do. There was nothing anyone could do. It was her time.  
Part of me is still in that dark place though. I don’t want to admit it to myself or admit it to anyone. I’m sixteen years old and walkers aren’t the only things I’ve killed. I’ve killed people. I have blood on my hands and if I do ever meet someone, how will she feel about it? I’m not even sure how I feel about it.  
I hear a knock on my door which is followed by it opening slowly. My dad pops his head in and smiles. I return his smile with me shaking my head.  
“Mornin.” He says.  
“Mornin.” I reply. Silence fills the room which usually means something happened.  
“Dad, what’s wrong?”  
“Nothing. Um, you got plans today?” I shake my head no and ask him why. He proceeds to tell me that I’ll be going out on a run with Daryl. I don’t show my excitement like everyone else might but then he hands me my gun with an extra magazine.  
“You just need to be careful, alright. Listen to what Daryl says. Keep your eyes open. I don’t want to lose you Carl.”  
“You won’t dad. I’m your son. We’ve both been shot and we still lived. I know were not immortal but I’m not going anywhere.” He walks over to me and gives me a half hug before leaving the bedroom. With my gun in my hand, I continue to just stand there. I’m trying to figure out what I should do next. Getting dressed would probably be the next step since I’m still standing here in just my boxers.  
I put my gun and extra magazine on my bed and grab my jeans. Pulling them on I hear the sound of the wind turbine. It’s only loud when the wind hits it after being on a stand still for a little bit. Once it gets going its silent. After I finish buttoning them, I start searching for a shirt which I remembered is in the laundry.  
I grab my gun and tuck it in the back of my waist band. We haven’t been able to find a new holster that fits me so I just do this. Glenn thinks I’m going to shoot myself in the ass by doing this but it’s not like I’m the only one that does this.  
Heading out to the common area without a shirt on, not something I typically do. I’m not self-conscience or anything, I just have scars. I guess everyone has scars now a days whether they are physical or emotional. Mine are both.  
“Hey Christie.” I say sitting up on the bar stool.  
“Hey Carl. You are seriously like two percent body fat.” I laugh and explain to her that if it wasn’t for this. I would probably be that fat kid that plays video games all day. She starts laughing and hands me a plate of food. Eggs and ham. And it’s actually fresh eggs and ham. Daryl slaughtered two pigs and started preparing it for everything we might need for this winter.  
“Did you say something about two percent body fat?” Christie’s husband Raymond comes around the counter and kisses her. Adults kissing in front of me is still awkward and I have no idea why.  
“Ya Carl over here thinks that he’d be that fat kid. I don’t think so though. Look at him.”  
“I can see what she means. Your making me look bad in front of my woman boy.” He says with a smile on his face.  
“Hey Carl, you almost ready?” I hear Daryl say behind me. I tell him to give me ten minutes and I’ll be outside and ready to go. I finish my food, hand Christie my plate and head to the laundry room for my shirt. Eight minutes later, I’m outside standing by the truck with my stuff when Daryl walks out of the lodge. We both get in and we leave.

Mattie’s POV  
This new world, this new life of mine wasn’t supposed to happen. I should be in high school. I should be going to class. I should have a boyfriend. I should but I don’t because of this cannibalistic disease that destroyed the mass majority of the world.  
Every morning before everyone gets up, I stand outside. Waiting for something that I’m not even sure what it is and might not ever know. Part of me thinks that this is it. That we’ll always be on the run. Running towards an unknown or fictional location.  
The second day after everything went to shit though, was the first time my mom let me shoot a gun. She found it on a dead police officer and she handed it to me. I was an eleven year old little girl. I wasn’t supposed to be shooting a gun. I was supposed to be playing with dolls.  
This is the world we live in though. Being able to shoot, load and clean a gun, is a part of surviving. You can’t be weak, you have to be strong. If you’re weak even for a split second, you could die. Then again, even if you’re strong, you could die. Maybe it really doesn’t matter whether or not you’re strong or weak anymore. Those things don’t care.  
I’ve watched people die, inches from my face. Their blood has been on me and there’s nothing I can do about it. I’ve started to lose track on the amount of those things I’ve killed. I know how many people I’ve killed. Three. I have three peoples blood on my hands but it was worth it.  
I have blood on my hands but that’s just me trying to survive. I don’t feel guilty for killing those men. I didn’t feel guilty afterwards or even now. I didn’t lose sleep over me shooting them in the head. I did it to protect my family, the only family I have left.  
I heard the back door open but I didn’t turn around to see who it was. A hand on my shoulder told me who it was but I still didn’t turn around. My mama thinks I’m depressed and part of me thinks she’s right. I don’t talk that much anymore. I keep things to myself.  
“Hey Mattie, is everything loaded?” She asks me and I nod my response.  
“Well then are you ready to go?”  
“Ya mama, I’ll be right there.” I close my eyes, take a deep breath and I feel my eyes begin to water. Get ahold of yourself Dixon, there’s no need to get soft now.  
My mama told me I’m my father’s daughter. Strong and independent. He taught my mama everything he knew and she passed it onto me. He was going to teach me when I got older but then this happened and he never had the chance to.  
“Mattie, come on, we’re burning day light!” She yells from the truck.  
“I’m coming!” I bend down to grab my bag off the ground and run to the truck. I open the door, through my bag in and climb in the front. Putting on my seat belt, I notice my mama looking at me. I turn my head and ask her what. She nods and starts up the truck.  
“Mattie is everything alright?” She asks me.  
“Ya mama, I’m fine. I’m just a little tired.”  
“Alright. Take a little nap until we find a place to scavenge.” I nod and I think to myself, today is just another day.


	5. Department Store

Department Store

Daryl’s POV  
The last thing I thought when I got up this morning was me taking a sixteen year old out on a run with me. Of course having the extra help is always good. Just hopefully he has my back and neither of us gets killed.  
I’m used to having one of the other guys with me whenever we go out on a run. Maggie won’t let Glenn go out on runs anymore because she can pop any day now. I don’t blame her for telling him that either. Glenn should be there for his son or daughter. I think its twins because of how big she is. Carol just tells me to shut up.  
“Daryl, do you have any idea where were going?” I hear Carl ask.  
“Not really. I’m just drivin’ honestly.”  
“Then how are we supposed to find a place to loot?”  
“We just have to keep our eyes open.” Carl doesn’t say anything after that. So I just continue to drive.  
Whenever I’m driving my mind starts to wander. I always think about my life before all of this, even though I probably shouldn’t. It doesn’t help that when I drive, my left hand is on top of the steering wheel. I always glance at my ring finger, wishing I still had my wedding band. Then again, if I still had it, then I would have to explain where I got it from and I’d rather not get on that conversation.  
“Hey Daryl. Look.” Carl says. I look over at him, notice he’s pointing at something and I follow the direction that he’s pointing in. When I figure out what he’s pointing at, I actually got a little excited. A small department store is exactly what we need. It will have just about everything we’ll need, including pharmacy.  
“Good job kid.” I tell him. I start driving towards the entrance. It’s extremely run down. The cars that are in the parking lot, have vines growing on them. Grass is coming through the pavement. Even the building is becoming over grown. Goes to show you Mother Nature isn’t dead.  
I park towards the entrance and wait a minute before getting out. We both hop out and stand there for another minute. We always need to be careful. There’s not only walkers we have to be worried about anymore. People are worse.  
“You ready?” I ask Carl and he nods as he puts on his sheriff’s hat.  
“Let’s go then.” There’s no need to give him a lecture on what to do. Carl is smart. He knows how to handle himself.  
We both walk up to the entrance and I knock on the door hard. A minute later, we see five walkers heading our way from the inside.  
“You ready?” I ask Carl one last time.  
“Let’s get this over with already.” He says and we head inside.  
Carl’s POV  
We saw five walkers through the window but apparently three more wanted to sneak up to scare the shit out of us. One of them snuck up behind me but before it could even touch me, Daryl shot it with his crossbow.  
“Way too close to my head.” I told him. I could hear the arrow go passed my head.  
“Well I didn’t think ya wanted to be lunch for that fucker.” I turn around and he had to be close to three hundred pounds. Thank God he didn’t fall on top of me. That would seriously suck. He’d probably crush me.  
“Well thanks.”  
“No problem. I don’t think there’s any more around but keep your eyes open. I’m heading to the pharmacy. You got your list.” I say yes and reach into my pocket to show him. We part ways and I grab a cart to begin filling it up.  
This place looks like it’s practically untouched. Which makes sense since it’s nothing but walkers in here. Whoever has been in here must not have gotten far. Which is a good thing and a bad thing. It’s a good thing because it means more supplies for us. But it’s a bad thing because they either became lunch or became one of those.  
I look at the list and it has a large variety of supplies. From batteries to food, to hammers and shovels. This is going to be fun. At least Daryl got the pharmacy and the clothing list. I got everything else and it’s all in the same general location.  
I head towards the home improvement section to get all the tools on the list. I ended up stock the entire cart with hammers, screwdrivers, flatheads, nails and whatever else I can find. It might be over kill but you never know when you might need it. Screwdrivers and flatheads are useful to kill walkers as well.  
After I get done in that section of the store and my cart is practically three quarters of the way full, I head to the gardening section. I grab a couple boxes of seeds, fertilizer bags, shovels and salt. It’s going to be snowing soon and I know salt will be useful so we don’t slip. The last thing we need is broken bones, especially with Maggie being pregnant.  
I look over my list and notice that I’ve gotten everything that was on there and then some extra stuff. I start heading up front when I hit the sports section. There’s stuff in there that I know we’ll need. That’s usually where some of the good stuff is actually.  
A few lanterns, hand warmers, gloves and amongst other equipment later, my cart is over flowing. At least I was able to pack everything in their decently so nothing is falling out. Call me OCD, I don’t care. I just know how to pack up stuff up.  
As I head up front, I pass the magazine aisle. I stop for a moment to think if I should head in there or not. I know I should because I’m basically out of reading material and who knows when I’ll be able to get anything else. Walking down the aisle, I see a large variety of magazines. I grab whatever looks good and throw it in my bag.  
Got nothing else better to do right now anyways since the cart is filled.  
McKayla’s POV  
The one thing that drives me absolutely insane is silence, especially when I’m driving. Without a radio, I can’t distract myself with music. Usually Mattie and I talk but she won’t talk to me anymore. She’s barely spoken since we left New York City.  
New York City was absolute torture for the both of us. What could happen, happened and what didn’t happen, didn’t. We were held up in a place for a couple days trying to recuperate when three guys broke in. DJ was in a different room with Koda but Mattie and I were together.  
I was pinned down by two of the men while Mattie was fighting like hell with the other one. My daughter is a fighter just like her father. She was able to reach behind to grab her gun. I wasn’t expecting her to shoot him though. Let alone her shooting the other two men that were on top of me.  
After she shot those men, she did go into a fit of shock. I think it was the fact that she didn’t fully realize what she had done. Then by the time she did, her body just shut down for a couple days. We ended up moving to a different place because of the amount of blood that was left.  
“Hey mom, look.” Mattie says breaking the silence. I see a department store off in the distance. Looking in the backseat to see DJ sleeping, now is probably the only time we’d be able to go in.  
It might be bad to leave DJ in the car by himself but he doesn’t freak out when he wakes up. Koda is right next to him. If Koda wasn’t then he’d most likely freak out.  
I pull into the parking lot and I can see that Mother Nature has nearly completely taken over the place. That’s when I notice a vehicle that hasn’t been submerged by vines and grass. I watch Mattie sitting up in her seat and looking at me.  
“It’ll be fine. We’ll be fine.” I take a deep breath and park our vehicle. We both hop out and grab our bags.  
“You ready for this?” I ask. Mattie shakes her head. I walk over to her and put my hand on her cheek.  
“Mattie, we’ll be okay. I promise. Just don’t over react.” Mattie shakes her head once again before we head to the entrance. I look through the window and I see a group of dead laying the ground with their goo coming out of their skulls. This is going to be interesting.  
“Come on Mattie, were going to make this quick. I don’t think we’re alone. Just if you run into one of them, just don’t draw your gun.”  
“Are you serious? What if they do?”  
“Just act normal. Throw your hands up and maybe they’ll just stay calm.”  
“Okay. What are we looking for anyways?” I explain to her that I’m going to the pharmacy to get stuff for the winter so if one of gets sick, we’ll be able to treat it. Then I told her, I wanted her to go find heavier blankets and lanterns. She nods and we split ways. I really hope I made the right decision about splitting up. The last thing I need is one of us getting killed because of me deciding this.

Mattie’s POV  
Splitting up might not have been the smartest idea in the world but I understand why. We can get in and out of here faster. I just really hope I don’t run into someone. I know how to defend myself, it’s just since New York, and I’ve been hesitant with using my gun.  
I’m not afraid of the gun, I’m afraid of what I’m capable of. I’m capable of killing anything and I think that’s what scares me the most.  
Grabbing a cart, I start heading towards the home department. I figured heavy blankets would be in that area. I grab a few comforters which are stuffed with feathers. Those are usually a lot warmer than the typical comforters. And I was able to grab one for each of us. I grab a few pillows as well.  
I start my search for the lanterns and decide getting candles would also be a smart thing to get. Lanterns require batteries. Candles don’t but I would still need to find matches or lighters. I grab a few boxes of candles and throw them inside the cart. I’m not really sure where I’d find the matches or lighters though.  
I continue my search for the lanterns when I stumbled upon the book section. I looked around and I didn’t see anyone so I started walking slowly down the aisle. There’s so many different kinds of books and it’s like my own personal library. I haven’t read a “new” book in a while.  
Five books and a small book light later, I shove everything into my backpack. When I looked up though, I noticed a pair of legs through the shelf. I know they don’t belong to my mom and I’m not about to stick around to figure it out. But for some reason, I’m drawn to figure out who it is on the other side of the shelf.  
Leaving my cart where it is, I walk slowly to the opposite end of my aisle and his. I take a deep breath before turning the corner. When I turned the corner though, I wasn’t expecting to see someone around my age. At least I think he’s my age. In this light, it’s sometimes hard to depict people’s ages.  
He looks like he’s taller than me by a few inches. Broad shoulders, flat stomach and shoulder length wavy dark hair. He has a ridiculous looking hat on. Almost looks like a cowboy hat but I know it’s not. He’s wearing a flannel shirt, jeans and a pair of boots.  
I’m still standing at the end of the aisle, peaking around the corner. That’s when I hear gurgling. I look over to my right and that’s when I see one of those things making its way towards me. Shaking my head, I reach for my knife but apparently it was quicker than I realized.  
It had me on the ground before I could even get my knife free from its sheath. It’s snapping its teeth at me as I have my hands around its neck. I’m not going to let it bite me. I just need to get leverage so I can get it off of me.  
That’s when I heard the puncture and a small piece of metal popping though the top. Next thing I know it’s off of me and that guy is helping me up. What I didn’t see coming though was him throwing me up against the wall and pointing a gun to my head. I did as my mother told me to do though. I through my hands up in the air and didn’t move a muscle. It felt like my heart has stopped when I looked him in the eyes.


	6. Reunion on Aisle Five

Reunion on Aisle Five  
Daryl’s POV  
This place seems like it hasn’t even been looted at all. When I got to the pharmacy, the shutters were shut and locked. Same as the door that went in there. At least I had my pick locking tools to get this door opened.  
Luckily enough, when I got the door opened, there was no surprises on the other side. Unwelcomed surprises now a days usually means life or death. And I’d pick life over death any day of the week. I start searching each aisle and shoving everything I possibly could into the duffle bags I brought. I had four of them which I knew should be more than enough to get medicine.  
After I was done, I actually had all four bags filled with medical supplies. I went down the other aisles to see if there was anything else we might need which of course there was. Grabbed a cart and filled it with toiletries. Having running water again that’s clean and heated, all of this stuff will come in handy. I didn’t completely clear the aisles, there’s other people out there that might need it but I did take a mass majority of the supplies.  
We have a few more people that joined us. Raymond and Christie Chambers, along with Christie’s dad Antonio. Of course he doesn’t speak an ounce of English which Christie interrupts for us, at least the nice parts. As long as I don’t hear whatever he’s calling me in English, I don’t care. It’s just his opinion anyways and I’m not about to beat the shit out of a man in a wheelchair.  
I run up front and drop off the cart behind a pile of stuff just so it’s hidden. The last thing we need is for another group coming in, seeing the stuff and grabbing it. It’s not my job to get shit for other people unless they’re a part of my group. Only damn way I’ll do it and I’ve done it for a long ass time.  
Grabbing another cart, I start heading towards the baby section. We need to start stock piling formula, diapers, wipes and whatever else I can find. Maggie and Glenn’s baby will be here any day. When Judith was born we were barely prepared but we also thought we’d have a little bit more time. But then we didn’t think she’d be having the baby in the middle of complete chaos.  
As I walked down the main aisle, I saw someone in the clothing section. I slowed down a little bit to make sure she wasn’t a walker. But then I saw her hands moving through the clothing and it answered my question for me. She had long blonde hair. Tight figure from where I was standing. She was almost familiar.  
I couldn’t see her face though, not from that far anyways. She didn’t know I was there, but I also walk pretty quiet. Then she turned around and looked directly at me. My heart stopped and we both stood there staring at each other. Not in a million years did I ever think I’d ever see something that beautiful again.  
She was here. I thought it was a dream as I let go of the cart and slowly walked towards her. She was just inches from me in her original position. It was obvious that she couldn’t move. Then she reached up and put her hand on my cheek and I felt the current go through me.  
“Daryl?” She said and I knew at that moment, that it wasn’t a dream.

McKayla’s POV  
He’s here, standing inches from my face. My hand is on his face. I needed to make sure this was real and I wasn’t hallucinating. When our skin connected the familiar surge went through my body. And almost on cue, my arms were wrapped around his neck after I said his name.  
With my eyes closed, I felt his arms wrapping around my waist holding me close to his body. He’s alive, my husband is alive and I’m in his arms after four years of being a part. I’m not even sure how long it’s been since I jumped into his arms. We just stood there, holding each other and then I felt my eyes begin to water.  
He finally releases me from his embrace and my feet fall back to the ground. I move my arms from around his neck to his waist as his hands reach for my face. We look at each other which felt like an eternity. He’s looking at me with uncertainty, like he’s not sure if I’m real. Then he pull my face up to his and his lips are on mine.  
The lips that told me they loved me. The lips that said I do. The lips that made every single care in the world disappear. Once again, I’m not even sure how long we’ve been standing there. Then without even thinking, we go back to our original position. His hands are around my waist lifting me up in the air and my arms are wrapped around his neck.  
The kiss deepens and he lowers both of us down to the ground. He’s underneath me and I’m straddling him. I’m not sure why he even lowered us to the ground until he pulls away to look at me again. He smiles his infamous Dixon smile that I only saw in my dreams.  
“McKayla. You’re really here aren’t you?”  
“Yes Daryl, I am.” He smiles again and pulls me in for another kiss.  
I felt like we were a couple of teenagers again. Stealing kisses underneath the bleachers at school. Even though we were never in high school together. It was just in that moment, that’s how it looked and felt. Then he pulls away from again.  
“Where’s Mattie?”  
“She’s somewhere around here getting supplies.”  
“She’s okay?”  
“Yes Daryl, she’s fine. And now you’re here and we’re a family again.” I told him and then his eyes shifted downwards along with his head. I shifted my eyes back and forth then put my hand up to my mouth. He looked back up and my eyes sprung to life with tears.  
“McKayla, Merle died a couple year ago.”  
“What about Aaron?”  
“I don’t know.” Then he explained to me what happened to the both of them. Aaron left at the very beginning to D.C. Merle died by the hands of a psychopath by the name of the Governor and Daryl had to shoot his own brother. We sat there and he explained everything to me. How he thought I was dead because of all the blood at the house. I just sat there and listened to him talk.  
Carl’s POV  
She’s scared, I know she is. I have a gun pointed to her head and her back is up against the wall. In this world no body is safe. Even a young blonde like her. Then I see her hands move above her head and I almost stopped.  
“Who are you?”  
“I’m Mattie.”  
“Are you alone?” And she shakes her head no. I look back and forth to see if anyone is around but I don’t see anyone. She’s not crying compared to most females would be in her position. She’s strong, I can tell.  
“Who are you with?” She tells me her mom is inside with her and her brother and dog is in the car. Then I proceeded to ask her if she had any weapons on her. She told me she did. I didn’t need to search her. She was honest with me. Besides I saw her reaching behind her before that walker attacked her.  
I didn’t know what else to ask. I was too focused on her eyes for some reason and it felt like she was staring directly into my soul. She had deep brown eyes that reminded me of chocolate. I think I might be having chocolate with drawl because that’s the only reason why I’d even be thinking of that. Next thing I knew I was on the ground with a knife to my throat.  
“The next time you hold someone at gun point. Make sure they don’t have access to their weapons.” She says standing back up. What I didn’t expect was her reaching her hand out to me to help me up.  
“Sorry, I um. Sorry.”  
“Its fine, it’s not the first time I’ve been at gun point. But you’re a little smaller than the last guy.” I couldn’t believe what she just said. She’s been in this situation before.  
“I’m Carl.”  
“Well I guess that’s one way to introduce yourself.”  
“I said I’m sorry alright. Fuck.” I bend down and grab my hat to put it back on. When I looked back up she was walking away.  
“Where are you going?”  
“I’m finding my mom so we can get out of here.” I tried to grab her arm but she turned around and actually slapped me across the face.  
“Don’t touch me.” She said and she continued on her way. I kept following her though. Daryl wouldn’t be as generous as I am if she ran into him.  
She didn’t yell for her mom but it seemed like she knew exactly where she was going. I wonder if she was from around here or at least maybe she’s been here before. I continued to follow her though just because of Daryl. I know for a fact I’m annoying the hell out of her right now but I’m partially trying to keep her from getting killed even though I think she can take care of herself.

Mattie’s POV  
I swear if he keeps following me, I’m going to knock him out. He’s been following me since the magazines and it’s seriously annoying me. I just want to find my mom so we can get the hell out of here and not get stalked by him. Is that so much to ask.  
“Why are you following me?” I say as I wipe around to look at him.  
“Because the other guy I’m with won’t be so nice.”  
“And why’s that?” Crossing my arms in front of me.  
“Well Daryl...”  
“Wait did you just say Daryl?” That’s the same name as my dad but I have a feeling that it’s just coincidence.  
“Ya why?” He asks me. I tell him that’s the same name as my dad but he even agreed with the voice in my head. It couldn’t possibly be him. It’s not possible. Then Carl mentioned that they came from Georgia and my heart stopped.  
“What’s his last name?” I asked him turning around. If it’s him then I don’t want Carl to see me freak out. I heard him take a deep breath and then say Dixon. Then he said his first and last name.  
He’s alive. My dad is alive and we’re in the same place. We’re going to be a family again. Something I’ve wanted for the past four years since all of this shit happened.  
I start running up and down the aisles. I don’t want to yell just in case there is more of those things in the store. Going down every single aisle trying to find my mom or even my dad. I wonder if they’ve already found each other.  
Continuing my search, I ran into the clothing department and I hear talking. It’s quiet like they’re almost whispering. I slowed down my pace and listened to figure out which direction the voices were coming from. Then I felt a hand on my shoulder.  
I turned around quickly and held a knife once again to Carl’s throat.  
“Will you stop sneaking up behind me?” I told him and his through his hands up in the air in surrender. He smirked and I could hear him laugh under his breath. I lowered my knife and started walking again.  
“Mattie?” I heard a voice say. I turned around and he was standing right there with my mom. They did find each other. We found each other.  
“Daddy!” And I ran. I ran directly into his arms. Those arms that from the moment I was born, I was always in. I started sobbing into his neck as he held me close.  
“My beautiful girls. I have you both again.” I heard him say but I didn’t look up. I told him that I missed him and loved him. He said the same thing and mom joined us in for the hug. We all stood there in a family hug. We didn’t care if the entire world came crushing down right now. We had each other once again and there was nothing anyone could do to change that right now.


	7. A Dixon Reunion

A Dixon Reunion  
Carl’s POV  
The fact that I have no fucking clue what the hell is going on is actually driving me nuts. Daryl is married with a kid, actually kids based on what Mattie told me. Not in a million years did I ever think Daryl Dixon would be the one to have a wife and kids. Why in the hell didn’t he tell anyone?  
I watched them hug. Daryl’s entire badass demeanor just completely changed in my eyes. I’m not saying he just got soft because I know he can still kill anyone within a matter of seconds. I’m just seriously confused by this entire situation. At least now I know where Mattie gets it from.  
They finally stopped hugging and Daryl looked at me. Raising an eyebrow, I continued to stand there completely shocked.  
“Carl, I’d like you to meet my wife McKayla and our daughter Mattie.”  
“Nice to meet you McKayla. And Mattie and I already met.”  
“I figured as much.” We stood there for a few minutes in complete silence. Then Daryl told us that we should probably start heading out. Mattie and McKayla started walking towards the front but Daryl stopped me.  
“Carl, I know you have a lot of questions. Just I don’t know how to answer them right now. And I know everyone back home will have a lot of questions as well. So just wait.” I nod and we both started walking up front. I grabbed my cart full of supplies and I watched Daryl grab both of his. When we walked out of the store, we all went our separate ways to load our vehicles with the supplies we found.  
By the time we were finished, they weren’t even close. But it seemed like their vehicle was stock piled full of supplies. I wonder how long they’ve been on the road together. I kept looking over at Mattie and from inside of the store I didn’t fully realize just how beautiful she actually was.   
Of course I knew she was blonde and had brown eyes even under the faint light inside. But in the sun light, her blonde hair glowed. She almost looked like an angel standing over there loading the truck.  
“Carl?”  
“Huh ya?”  
“What happened to your neck?” I reached up and it was wet. Pulling my hand away, there was some blood. I walked to the outside mirrors to look and I saw a small incision on my neck. Holy shit, Mattie actually cut me and I didn’t even realize it. I started laughing.  
“What’s so funny?”  
“Nothing.”  
“How’d you do that?” I explained to him that Mattie held her knife to my neck twice since we met. Daryl started laughing and told me that she’s a Dixon. It could’ve been a lot worse. We both laughed again and then we heard the trunk of their truck close followed by giggling. What the hell was that?

Daryl’s POV  
I heard the giggling but it didn’t sound like it came from McKayla or Mattie. It sounded a lot younger. McKayla was on the passenger side door opening it. From where I was standing, I couldn’t see anything but then McKayla came around the corner of the truck holding hands with a little boy. He had dark brown hair and big blue eyes that seemed like they were almost too big for his face.  
They walked over to us but Mattie was still standing over by the truck. McKayla had a half smile as they reached us. As they got closer, I realized that the boy had to be at least four years old.  
“Daryl, I’d like you to meet DJ. Your son.” McKayla told me.  
“Wait what?”  
“Daryl, the day you left, I was going to Atlanta for a doctor’s appointment. I found out a few days before hand that I was pregnant but I didn’t want to get either of our hopes up.” I understood why she said that. Since Mattie, we had issues. There were a lot of complications during Mattie’s birth that ended up giving McKayla and I complications with conceiving afterwards. The doctor had a few ideas on what could be wrong but she was never certain.  
I kneeled down to become face to face with the little blue eyed boy. He was shy and scooted behind McKayla. I looked back up at her and smiled.  
“Hey buddy. I’m not going to hurt you. I’m your dad.” The little boy smiled and moved closer to put his hand on my face.  
“I know. Mommy has a picture of you. She lets me look at it.” Then he wrapped his arms around my neck and it was almost instant. This little boy already has me wrapped around his finger, just like his sister. Then I heard a faint dog bark. Mattie opened the back door and out came a dog with white fur.  
“Koda!” I said and the dog was on top of me, licking me. I heard my family laughing and Koda was whimpering in excitement. I can’t believe he’s still alive. He’s a strong dog that was able to keep my family safe this entire time. That’s a family dog for you.  
“I guess someone else missed you.” I heard McKayla say. Koda finally calmed down and ran off to probably find a bathroom due to all of the excitement. I stood up and looked at McKayla.  
“This has to be the best day of my life since the turn.” I pulled McKayla into another embrace. Once we were finished. I looked at her and asked her if they have a camp. She shakes her head no and told her to follow me and Carl.  
It seemed like she was going to say she couldn’t. Then she smiled and told me okay. I watched her get DJ back into the car along with Koda. Mattie walked over to me and gave me another quick hug before getting into the car herself. Then McKayla walked back over to me and gave me a kiss on the lips.  
“McKayla, I need to warn you. Rick, he’ll ask you guy’s questions. He’ll ask how many walkers have you killed, how many people have you killed and why. Just don’t get defensive.” She nods and I pull her in for another quick kiss before we leave. I really hope this all goes smoothly.

McKayla’s POV  
I heard his warning about Rick but I didn’t know how to comprehend it. The question about the walkers I understood but the people. What was up with that? Why did he need to know how many people we’ve killed?  
I got into the car and started it up, waiting for Daryl to start driving. As he pulled away, I almost hesitated but then I put the truck in drive and started following him. Mattie has her head rested up against the window with a slight grin on her face. That’s the first time I’ve seen her smile in a long time. It nearly broke my heart.  
Those questions were imprinted in my mind. How are we supposed to answer the people question? I hadn’t killed any people but Mattie did. That’s something that she has to live with for the rest of her life but I don’t want them to know. I don’t want her father to know.  
“Mattie?”  
“Ya mom?”  
“When we get to the place where your dad is camped out at. There’s a man there that will be asking questions. One of them is how many people have you killed.” I watched her tense up. Then in the corner of my eye, I saw her looking at me.  
“Mom, what are we going to do?”  
“You didn’t kill those men. I did. Okay? No one needs to know.”  
“Mom, I can’t have you lie for me.”  
“I’m your mother Mattie, I’ll lie for you to keep you safe.” She says okay and that was the end of the conversation.  
We continued to follow Daryl closely through the winding country side. There’s already snow on some of the mountain tops which doesn’t surprise me. Wind turbines are scattered around the hillside which is always a plus. Then off in the distance I could see a large size home that has a turbine a few yards from it. People are outside moving around and at the pace they’re going, I know that they’re not dead.  
Mattie shifts in her seat and points. I tell her that I see it and I reach over to squeeze her hand. This is our new start, hopefully. We’ll ride out this winter together as a family. We found a warm place to stay and it seems like they might actually have power. In this day and age, power is a high luxury.  
I watch Daryl turn down the path that leads to the home and I follow. The people start making their way out of the house and it looks like they get a little ambitious when they see us. It’s a kind of a large group. Definitely a lot larger than I’ve seen in a while. In the past year, we’ve seen groups of six maybe but we never felt safe. This group though and knowing Daryl is a part of them, makes me feel safe. I just hope my feelings aren’t being clouded.


	8. The Camp

The Camp  
Daryl’s POV  
Everyone is starting to walk outside as we pulled up. I know everyone is eying the vehicle that’s following Carl and I. I looked over at Carl and he’s shaking his head. We both know exactly what the other one is thinking. Luckily enough, Rick has Judith on his hip so he won’t go straight for the other vehicle.  
I park the car and hop out to head towards McKayla’s truck. I need to tell her to not get out until I give her the heads up. There’s no need to for any type of drama right now. Her truck is still running and she’s patiently waiting for me. When I reach her side, her window is already rolled down and waiting for me to give her directions.  
“Stay in the car until I call you over okay?” She nods and I turn around to head towards the group. Carl is already by everyone. Rick is giving me a stern look like he’s pissed and confused all at the same time.  
“Daryl, what the hell is going on? Who are they?” Rick asks and I put my finger up to my bottom lip.  
“I was never honest with you guys at the beginning. Those two in the car, they’re my wife and daughter.” Everyone just stopped dead in their tracks. Rick’s eyes widened and his mouth opened to the point I thought his jaw was about to fall off. I explained everything to them. By the time I was done, Rick nodded and told me to go get them.  
I waved them over and watched them get out of the truck. Mattie walked to the back to get DJ. They walked over to us and Mattie had ahold of DJ’s hand.  
“Everyone, this is McKayla, my wife. And our kids Mattie and DJ. Plus our dog Koda.”  
“It’s nice to meet you all.” I heard McKayla say after I told them everyone else’s names.  
“Nice to meet you as well McKayla.” Rick says handing Judith to Michonne. He reaches out a hand to shake McKayla’s which she took. He smiled and so did she. Then she moved a little closer to me and put her arm through mine.  
We all stood there for a few minutes. I don’t think we had any idea what to do. Everyone kept looking at each other.  
“Well let’s get everything inside. No need to stand out here any longer than we need to.” Rick announced and we all started unloading our vehicle full of supplies. McKayla walked up to me and told me that the stuff she has in her vehicle she’s willing to contribute to the group. So I got some of the other people to help unload hers as well.  
By the time we were done, we had a full arrangement of supplies. More than enough that we might not even have to run back out before the snow hits. All the supplies we had were spread throughout the foyer in the house waiting for it to be separated and accounted for.  
I watched McKayla and Mattie go back out to the vehicle to retrieve their bags and walk back up to the house. Once they were inside, we all just stood there once again trying to figure out our next move. Which I had no clue what that would be.  
McKayla’s POV  
Rick seemed nice, but he had a certain demeanor about him that I wasn’t sure of. I was expecting the questions, but they never came. Everyone kept looking at us like we were some foreign object with a huge neon sign on us. It made me feel a little uncomfortable but then again, Daryl never told them about us. So I guess it just comes with the territory.  
I watched Daryl being pulled aside by Rick as I stood there with Mattie, DJ, and Koda. A pregnant brunette started walking towards us. She was followed closely by an Asian man that I assumed was her husband. When she reached us she smiled before reintroducing themselves.  
“I’m Maggie and this is my husband Glenn. He’s known Daryl since the beginning. I didn’t meet him until a few weeks in.” She told me. They were then accompanied by a few other members from the group which reintroduced themselves as well. There were so many of them and they got along great. Something that I never thought was possible anymore.  
Daryl and Rick joined us all. Daryl gave me a warm smile and grabbed my hand.  
“It’s a custom to us to ask a series of questions. I know your Daryl’s wife, but we still would like to know.”  
“Okay.”  
“How many walkers have you killed?” Mattie and I both answered as best as we could.  
“How many people have you killed?” I took a deep breath and looked at Mattie. She knows not to answer.  
“I’ve killed three. Mattie hasn’t.” I could feel Daryl’s eyes on me. I don’t think he ever thought I’d say I’ve killed someone, let alone three people.  
“Why?”  
“Because they would’ve killed myself and my family if I didn’t. I didn’t have a choice.” My heart felt like it was going to explode out of my chest. Daryl’s hand tightened around mine and I started to feel nauseous. Rick said alright and he turned around to head into a different area of the house.  
Daryl pulled me towards a hallway and into a room that I assumed was his. Once we were inside he grabbed me and hugged me tight to his chest. I wanted to cry and scream all at the same time. I just lied to who I assumed was the leader of the group.  
“McKayla, what happened?” I looked up at him.  
“What?”  
“Those men that you killed. What happened?”  
“Daryl, I didn’t kill them. Mattie did.” Daryl’s eyes widened. That’s when I explained everything to him. He needed to know the truth. I told him that after he told us about the questions, I explained to Mattie that it’s our secret. No one else needed to know and that’s the way it’s going to be. Daryl agreed and we didn’t talk about it after that. He kissed me one last time before we rejoined the group.

Mattie’s POV  
My parents just left me alone in the foyer. DJ just took off because there’s a little girl around his age playing on the floor with toys. Koda is sitting next to me. If we could communicate, he’d probably tell me that this shit is ridiculous. I would most likely agree with him because this is ridiculous.  
“You alright sweetie?” Said an older woman which if I remembered correctly, her name was Carol.  
“Um ya. I’m just not sure where I’m supposed to go right now. I kind of just got left standing here.” I said biting my lip.  
“Come on. I’ll show you around. You can leave your bags over there. We’ll find a place for them in a little bit.” I nod and put my bags in the area she told me to before following her.  
This place is huge. It’s a large antebellum which I thought were specifically designed for southern homes. She explained to me that there’s at least fifteen bedrooms in this place, along with ten bathrooms. Apparently it was actually a bed and breakfast at one point due to the pamphlets they found when they first found this place.  
Carol continued to show me around. Koda was following us. I don’t think he knew what to do with himself.  
“How old is he?”  
“What? Who?”  
“Your dog.”  
“Oh, sorry. Koda is nine.” She nods and told me about one time they almost got attacked by a group of dogs. Then she told me that one of the members ended up shooting them and they had them for dinner. Koda stopped and nudged me. I know he knows exactly what she said. I reached my hand down and patted him a reassuring scratch on his head.  
Shortly after that, my parents found me and my grabbed hand. She pulled me to the side as my dad talked to Carol.  
“What’s going on?”  
“Your dad told me where you’ll be sleeping.” She looked at me and I raised an eyebrow at her. She took deep breath and told me that I’ll be bunking with Carl until we do some bedroom arrangements. My mouth dropped open as she told me this. I’ll be bunking with a guy, my age, great. Like my life isn’t already weird. She also told me that DJ will be sharing a room with Judith and Koda will be in there too.  
“Where is the room?” I asked. She said up the stairs second door to the right. I walked to the area where I put my bags and grabbed them before heading upstairs. This has seriously been the most ridiculous day ever.  
“Come on Koda.” I said as I reached the door to the bedroom to open it. When I opened it, there was a bunk bed and two dressers. There was a large bookshelf with a massive collection of books on it. Maybe this won’t be so bad after all. I opened a dresser which was empty and started to fill it up with my clothes.  
Carl’s POV  
I couldn’t even believe what my dad just told me. Rooming with Mattie has to be one of the most bizarre things I have ever heard. I know for a fact that this isn’t going to end well for either of us. We’re teenagers for Christ sacks. I got used to having a room to myself again after being around everyone. Now I have to share it, with a chick.  
Taking my hat off, I begin walking up the stairs to my room. Well I guess it’s not my room anymore. I stood on the other side of the door and I could hear movement inside. I knock before entering to at least be nice.  
“Uh, come in?” Why’d she have to answer like that? I opened the door to find her in her jeans and a spaghetti strapped tank. Part of me thought she had a nice body but sometimes it’s hard to tell with when someone is in a hoodie. Not realizing until she looked up and me and smiled that I was actually staring at her.  
“Sorry. I’m just not used to being around anyone my age.”  
“It’s fine Carl. Who knows what we’ll see with bunking with each other.” She laughed and I kind of laughed right along with her. I ran my hands through my hair as we stood there in the room in an awkward silence. She then proceeded to wrap her arms around herself which made her breasts move closer together. This is seriously torture for me.  
“Carl, which bunk is yours?”  
“The bottom. I’ll be on top if you want to be bottom though.” She smiled and looked down. I knew exactly why she started smiling.  
“And let the sexual innuendos begin.” She said and we both started laughing. This might not be as bad as it could be. She proceeded that she’ll be on the top bunk, emphasis on the top bunk. I watched her step on my bunk barely putting her feet on it. She reached up and he top lifted up to show part of her lower back and belly button.  
“Carl, I know you’re staring at me.” She said without even looking in my direction.  
“Sorry.”  
“It’s fine. You don’t need to apologize for everything.” She said stepping off my bunk. She started to walk towards me and I backed up until I hit the wall.  
“Well, now look who’s pinned up against the wall.” She said with a smirk on her face. If it wasn’t for us just meeting, I’d probably grab her and pin her against the wall to kiss her. In the light, her brown eyes have a blue ring around them. They’re intoxicating. Her lips are full and it’s like they are waiting to be kissed.  
Then the dinner bell rang and she moved away from me. She reached into her bag and pulled out a t-shirt and threw it on. As she walked past me and out the door, she gave me a smile. I waited there for a minute to collect myself because someway somehow, that moment just got me worked up.


	9. Battle Wounds

Battle Wounds  
Carl’s POV  
After dinner, I went back upstairs to my room as usual. By the time I got there, Mattie was already in there going through her dresser. I stood there in the doorway watching her. Damn I feel like a creep.  
“Are you just going to stand there? Or are you coming in?” She said without looking at me. How does she do that? It has to be a Dixon thing. I walk over to the bed and sat down on my bunk. Not really sure what to do right now at all. It feels like I’m going to explode watching her move gracefully back and forth.  
“How old are you?” She asks me.  
“Oh um, sixteen. You?” I ask her and she tells me she’s fifteen. Of course, we’d be that close in age.  
“Can you turn around?”  
“What?” She holds up clothes and I got the hint. I turned around on my bunk and we continued our conversation with my back turned to her. We both asked each other a series of random questions. Not really sure where this was going at all. Then she told me that I could turn around and my mouth instantly fell opened.  
She was wearing short shorts and the tank she was wearing earlier. Could she wear anything more revealing right now. Ya, the room is a little warm but I think she’s trying to drive me absolutely insane. Then there was a knock on the door and it opens.  
Her mom pops her head in to tell us good night. I nod and watch Mattie move to the door to kiss her mom on the cheek. I heard the whisper something. but I wasn’t sure what it was. Then the door closed back up and she returned to her original position by her dresser.  
I’m not even sure what to say right now. She’s continuing on her charade of going through her stuff and putting them in the drawers. Then I notice a couple inch slit on her side.  
“Mattie, what happened to your side?” She halted in her tracks and turned around to look at me. Before answering me, she took a deep breath and shifted her eyes to the ground.  
“Um, a while back, my mom and I were held up in a place in New York. We got attacked. One of the guys’ knives sliced my side open.” My eyes widened as she told me that. That had to be the time her mom was talking about when my dad asked about how many people she’s killed. Then it reminded me about the claimers.  
“If it makes you feel better, which I highly doubt it would. I was shot.”  
“Really?” I nodded and stood up to lift my shirt up. She walked closer to me to get a better look. Then she asked me what happened and I told her. I told her how I almost died because someone was hunting a buck and they didn’t see me. She looked up at me and backed up a little bit.  
“Well if it matters, I’m glad you didn’t.” She said before turning around. I smiled and watched her.

Mattie’s POV  
Carl’s eyes have been on me the entire time since he walked in here after dinner. I don’t mind though, his eyes are amazing. A light blue that every single time I look at them, I feel my insides heating up. I feel like I’m a bundle of nerves right now and I have no idea why. It could be the fact I told him about New York but I also didn’t get into detail.  
After I finished putting all of my stuff into the dresser finally, I sat down on a chair. Carl and I sat there in silence trying to avoid eye contact but every time our eyes meet, we start laughing. Finally, I get up and join him on his bunk. I scoot far enough back so I can sit Indian style on his bed. He lays back, resting his head on his hands and I see his shirt lifting slightly up revealing his pelvic muscles.  
“So what do you want to do?” He asks me breaking the silence to the point I’m not longer staring.  
“I have no idea. What is there to do?”  
“I have a deck of cards.” I tell him that’s fine and we start trying to think of a game. He tells me about a card game called slapjack. Then he proceeded to tell me the rules. Once he was done. I just started laughing. I had no idea what he was talking about the entire time. I was staring into his eyes the entire time practically ignoring everything he said.  
“Carl, there’s no way I’m going to be able to play a game against you.”  
“And why’s that?” I start to feel myself blush and then he sits up to look at me. Our eyes met and I felt my heart stop. He inched towards me so we were only a few inches away from each other.  
“Mattie, I’ve been fighting the urge to kiss you since this afternoon.” I smiled and pierced my lips together. I know exactly how he feels because I’ve been wanting to kiss him all day as well. I’m not even sure why I’ve been wanting to kiss him so bad. There’s something about him that I keep getting drawn to.  
Of course when we met earlier, he had me at gun point but I retaliated by putting my knife to his throat. I actually put my knife to his throat twice. That’s when I notice the little cut on his throat. I opened my mouth once I realized that I did that.  
“Carl, did I do that to you?”  
“Did what?”  
“The cut. The cut on your throat.” I reached up and touched it. He proceeded to grab my hand and held it. With his other hand, he reaches behind my neck slowly and pulls me towards him. Our lips lock and my eyes automatically closed. He lets go of my hand and both of his hands moved down to my waist pushing me back onto the bed. My hands reach up into his hair and started to run through it.  
He’s strong but not over powering. He doesn’t have me pinned down. Both of my legs are free. He stops kissing me and starts trailing kisses down my neck which resulted in me throwing my head back. This feels absolutely amazing but then he stops.  
“Don’t worry about the cut Mattie.” He says kisses me one last time before getting off of me. He grabs a pair of plaid pajama pants then leaves the room. I’m lying there on the bed trying to figure out what just happened. Never thought that was how my first kiss would go. Holy shit that was fantastic.


	10. Emotional Roller Coaster

Emotional Roller Coaster  
Daryl's POV  
"Damn it. Shit. Oh, come on. Seriously." We could all hear McKayla in my bedroom complaining and cussing up a storm. Every time she would cuss I found myself laughing a little. Rick kept giving me a look.  
"Son of a..."  
"Geez Daryl, your woman sure does have a mouth on her." Abraham says walking in from outside.  
"I've never heard that woman swear that much in the eighteen years I've known her."  
"Well, maybe you should go check on her." Carol says.  
"You're right. Night everyone." I tell them and head to where McKayla is. When I open the door, she's standing there in her bra and jeans trying to do something with her bag. I just stand there admiring the view before she says something.  
"Are you enjoying the view Daryl?" She asks.  
"Yes, I am." She stops fumbling with her bag and puts her hands to her side. As she takes a deep breath, I notice her hands shake.  
"McKayla, what's wrong?" I say walking over to her. I try to get her turn but she refuses.  
"McKayla, look at me." I reach up and cup her face with one hand to turn her head.   
When she finally looks at me, I notice her eyes begin to water. As she looks me in the eyes, I know something is wrong when she bites her lip. I cock my head to the side and stare at her. When she nods and her lip quivers, I know exactly what's going on. I pull her into my arms and she quietly starts to cry.  
"How long have you known?" I ask finally breaking the silence.  
"I started getting symptoms a couple months ago."  
"Have you told Mattie?" She looks up at me and shakes her head no.  
"Are you going to tell her?"  
"At some point. I just don't know how to tell her." We stood there for a moment before I finally sat down on the bed. I leaned forward and put my face in my hands. I could hear McKayla do something but wasn't sure what until she kneeled down in front of me and I notice she put on a shirt. Taking my hands away from my face, she puts my hands in hers and puts them to her mouth to kiss them.  
"We'll figure it out, Daryl."  
"I'm losing you again aren’t I?" I say. She stands up and pushes me up to face her. Cupping my face, she climbs onto my lap and straddles me. I put my arms around her waist to hold her there so she doesn't fall back.  
"Daryl, you'll never loose me."  
"And how you know that?"  
"Because no matter where I'm at, I'll always be in here." She tells me as she puts her hand over my heart.  
"McKayla, I just got you back. I don't think I can do it again." I wrap my arms tighter around her and bury my face in her chest. Her hands wrap around my neck and I feel her hands in my hair. I can feel her heart beating.  
"Daryl, you need to promise me something." She says and I look up at her.  
"What?"  
"When, it's time...”  
"No, McKayla don't."  
"Daryl, let me finish." She says cupping my face again.  
"When it's time, I don't want you to do it. I want you to get Mattie and DJ out of here. I want someone else to do it." I understand why she's saying this. She knows I won't be able to do it. I take a deep breath before telling her okay and that I promise. As soon as I said that, her lips were on mine. This right here. This is what mattered to me. I had her back, for however long I might have and I'll make the time count.  
With her still straddling me, I grab the bottom hem of her shirt to take it off. I feel her hands reach in between us and her fingers slowly unbutton my shirt. She moves her hands over my bare chest and up my shoulders to slowly slide my shirt and vest off. She sits back and looks at me with her beautiful blue eyes.  
"I love you Daryl. I've loved you since I was sixteen and I'll love you even after I'm gone." I didn't say anything back, I pulled her mouth to mine and captured her lips. Our tongues intertwining in each other’s mouths. Holding onto her tightly, I stand up and lay her down on the bed; with me on top of her and her legs wrapped around my waist.  
I stop kissing her lips and start placing feather-like kisses down her jaw, down her neck and down to her collarbone. She quietly moans when I lightly nip at her collarbone. Even after all this time, I know how to get this woman of mine turned on. With her hands in my hair, I reach down and cup her breast. I go back up and capture her lips again before moving farther down.   
Pulling at her bra, I free one of her breasts and put her nipple into my mouth to suck on it. My other hand reached underneath her to unclasp her bra. She arched her back and I slid each strap off her shoulders before throwing it across the room.  
"Daryl, come up here." She said and my lips met hers again. I could feel her breasts against my chest as her hands were in my hair tugging gently. She moves her hands down to my chest. Pushing gently, she moves up so she's on top of me. She sits back, looks at me and smiles.

 

McKayla's POV  
I heard him say what but I was enjoying the view. I loved this man that I was looking at. I didn't realize how much I loved him until I saw him today at that warehouse. My heart stopped as soon as I saw him and it took every bit of energy I had to not crumble to the floor.  
"McKayla." He says leaning up and placing his hand on my face. I close my eyes and reach up to place my hand over his.  
"This feels like a dream."  
"It's not baby. It's real. I'm here." And his mouth is back on mine. This time is deeper, more emotional. I reach down between us to undo his belt and jeans. I push him back and scoot back to slide his jeans off, leaving his boxers on. I scoot back up and his arms wrap around my waist. Next thing I know, he's back on top of me.  
He goes back to kissing down my neck, to my collarbone and past my breasts to my stomach. His fingers wrap around my jeans to unbutton them and slide them off to toss them on the floor next to his. Without missing a beat, his lips are back on mine, devouring them. It feels like our first time all over again.  
"Daryl, I want you." I tell him. He looks at me and smiles.  
"You do, do ya? Well, let's see what we can do about that." I see a childish grin stretch across his face. Once again, he leans back and reaches underneath me, grabbing the hem of my panties and pulling them off. He gets off the bed and takes off his boxers.   
He climbs back on the bed and I feel him at my entrance. Slowly he penetrates me and I throw my head back in pleasure. It's been four years, well at least for me anyway, I really hope he hasn't been with anyone else. He starts thrusting deeper and harder as I start to feel myself build up.  
Reaching underneath me, Daryl picks me up so I have my legs wrapped around him. His face is buried in my chest while my arms are wrapped around his neck. I can feel him deep inside of me as I rock my hips back and forth on him.  
"Come on baby." As soon as he said that, I found my release and my lips are back on his. He lowers me back down and he starts to work on his own release. Reaching down, he grabs my ass and lifts it up to go deeper inside of me.   
My entire body starts to feel over sensitive as I feel him getting closer. He starts moving faster and deeper. I wrap my hands around him and lightly scratch his back; which I know throws him over the edge.  
"Oh god." He says quietly and I feel his release deep inside of me. He doesn't pull out right away but lays his head on my chest. I can hear him and feel him trying to catch his breath. I start running one hand through his hair while the other one rubs his back. Finally he pulls out and looks at me.  
"Woman, you’re going to kill me one of these days." He says and I smile at him. Moving up, his lips find mine and he kisses me tenderly. He stops and looks me in the eyes.  
"McKayla, I love you."  
"I love you too Daryl." He rolls off of me and pulls me into his arms after retrieving a blanket. I lay my head on his chest while his arm rests around my back. With my other hand on his chest, he puts his other hand on mine as he kisses the top of my head. We laid there in silence for a while before I realized he didn't have his ring. Of course he didn't, I had it.  
Pulling out of his embrace, I roll over and reach for my bag.  
"What in the world are you doing?"  
"Getting somethin." I tell him. I found the necklace with his wedding band on it. Whenever he went on his camping trips with his brother, he'd take it off so it didn't get caked with whatever they gutted or he didn't lose it. I unclasped the chain and slide the band off. Rolling back over with a smile on face, I noticed he had a confused look.  
"Give me your left hand."  
"Okay?" I said and he put his hand in mine. Looking into his eyes, I slowly slide his platinum wedding band on his ring finger. Once I was done, I kissed his knuckles and then leaned up to kiss his lips. We went back to our original position with my head back on his chest and I noticed him looking at his hand.  
"You okay?" I said looking up at him.  
"Ya, I just never thought I'd wear this again. I never thought I'd have you in my arms again." He tells me holding me tightly in his arms. We laid there holding each other as we finally fell asleep. We found each other after all this time.


	11. Pillow Talk

Pillow Talk  
Carl’s POV  
I just left Mattie laying there on my bunk after I kissed her. Walking down the hallway with my plaid pajama pants in hand, I head straight to the bathroom. I would change in there but after me kissing her I don’t think I’d be able to put my pants back on. Of course, I wouldn’t have a problem with it. But at the same time, I don’t think it would be a good thing if that were to happen.  
For a sixteen-year-old teenage guy, trying to keep my mind busy is sometimes difficult. I’ve tried just about everything to keep myself from finding a release. Luckily enough comics usually does it because I can focus on just that. Unfortunately though, I don’t think there’s no way I’ll be able to focus on that tonight. I’m hard as rock and there is absolutely nothing I can do about it.  
I kissed her though. I had her underneath me. Someway somehow I was able to pull myself off of her to retreat into the bathroom. If I continued kissing her though, it could’ve gone a lot farther. I need to stop thinking about it or I’m never going to calm down.  
At least with my jeans on, I could hide it. With me being in my pajamas, it’s a little harder. No pun intended. I just need to breathe and calm myself down. Breathe in and out. I do that for a few seconds and then I heard a knock on the door.  
“Hold on.” I said. I readjusted myself so at least it wasn’t fully noticeable and opened the bathroom door. On the other side of the door was Glenn. He told me sorry for interrupting and I told him I was done anyways. I walk back down the hallway to the bedroom and opened it.  
Once I was inside, Mattie was standing in front of the bookshelf. I walked up behind her knowing that she already knew I was in the room. As I reached her, she turned around and smiled. I was inches away from her face. I was thinking about kissing her again but instead I reached around her to grab a book from the shelf.  
I moved away from her and she shook her head. Walking over to my bed, I laid down and opened my book to read it. Then I heard her climb up the side to the top bunk.  
A while later, I heard her move above me for the millionth time since she climbed up there. I don’t think she’s comfortable up there. Then I heard her shift again and this time I got up to see what’s wrong.  
“Are you alright?”  
“Ya it’s just this top bunk is hard as a rock.”  
“Ya usually the top bunks are harder for some messed up reason.” She sits up and looks at me. I continued to stand there staring right back. Then she climbs over the side to stand directly in front of me.  
“Do you like torturing me or something?” She asks me and I started smiling.  
“What makes you think that?”  
“Because you left me laying on your bed after you kissed me. Then when you came back in here, I thought you were going to kiss me again…” I cut her off by kissing her. Wrapping my arms around her waist and pulling her against my body. Her arms wrapped around my neck pulling me closer to her as well. I had to let one of my arms go to hold onto the bed so we didn’t fall.  
“If you wanted me to kiss you again, the only thing you had to do is ask.” I said pulling away from her again. She smiled and then bit the side of her lip. With the hand that was holding onto the bed, I moved some of the hair that was in her face and tucked it behind her ear.  
“You’re trying to torture me, Carl.”  
“I think we’re both torturing each other Mattie.” I said looking her in the eyes. She lowered herself on the bed and laid down. I cocked my head to the side to figure out what she’s doing. She reaches up and grabs my hand to pull me on top of her.  
I found her lips once again as I felt her move down my back and found the bottom of my shirt. She starts pulling it up and I lifted up to help her with it. This can’t happen at least not right now. I really want to but not like this.  
“Mattie wait.”  
“What?” She says.  
“We need to cool down. We can’t do this.”  
“Carl, are you afraid you’re going to hurt me or something?”  
“No, it’s not like that.” I told her shaking my head in the process.  
“Then what’s the problem?” I took a deep breath and rolled off of her to lay on my back. She shifts and she’s now laying on her stomach looking at me. I close my eyes and run my fingers through my hair.  
“Mattie, if your dad catches us doing anything, he’d probably kill me. Then figure out a way to bring me back to kill me again.”  
“Carl, he wouldn’t do that. Well maybe he would, I’m really not sure.” She says as she starts laughing. We laid there looking at each other in silence. I watched her move off the bed. I thought she might be moving back up top but I was wrong. She laid back down with her pillow and blanket next to me.  
“What are you doing?”  
“I’m going to sleep. I can’t get comfortable up there and this bunk is comfortable.” She says with a smile. I laughed a little bit when she said that. Her dad is going to kill me. I started to sit up, I had all intentions to go up top, but her arm caught me.  
“You’re staying down here with me Carl.” I shook my head and laid back down. At least we have separate blankets so it’s not like he can get that pissed off at me. I turned on my side to face her and her eyes were already closed. She looks beautiful even when she’s half awake. I leaned in to kiss her on the cheek but she turned and our lips met.  
“Good night Carl.”  
“Good night Mattie.”  
Mattie’s POV  
My body is on fire right now. I’m way too hot and I know it’s because I’m lying next to Carl. My mama said my dad would always wake her up because he was a heater. So I guess it’s a male trait.  
I roll over onto my other side to look at him. He’s sleeping with one arm under his head and the other one across his stomach. To my surprise, he’s still shirtless. So I let my eyes wander a little bit. I saw a patch of hair that starts at his abdomen and travels down into his pants. I blush a little bit as I noticed that.  
I decided to roll back over and try to go back to sleep. The moon light shines through the window as my eyes begin to close again. Not really sure what time it is but I haven’t been sleeping well lately. I finally get comfortable again and fall back to sleep.  
A little bit later, I wake up cold and realized that I must’ve kicked off my blanket. I roll over to see Carl is lying on his side facing me. His hair is covering his eyes and his mouth is slightly open. He’s up a little higher than me and his blanket is covering his bottom half. I moved a little closer to him to use his body heat and his blanket.  
Carl must’ve felt me move closer to him because he moved closer to me. He then draped his arm around my waist and pulled me towards him. I smiled as he did that. He’s so warm and I quickly found sleep once again.  
When I woke up to the sun shining through the window, I was no longer facing him. His arm was still wrapped tightly around my waist. I wanted to go back to sleep but I heard him moan. I turned a little bit and his eyes were slightly open.  
“Do you ever stop moving?” He asks me. His voice still half asleep.  
“Sorry.” I giggled a little bit and then he pulled me tighter towards him. He moved his head to the side of my neck and kissed it gently. My eyes closed as he continued to kiss my neck and shoulder. I rolled over and met is gaze. With his hand still wrapped tightly around my waist, I move my hand to his hair and run my fingers through it to get it out of his eyes more.  
He tightened his grip and pulled me closer to him. Then his lips were on mine. I have no objections to waking up to this. I don’t even care about the whole morning breath right now. I’m just enjoying kissing him. He stops, looks at me and smiles.  
“Morning.”  
“Morning yourself.” I say with a smile.  
“Shit.”  
“What?” I ask him confused on what’s going on. Then I felt it and I saw his cheeks turn a light pink. I started to giggle as he rolled onto his back.  
“Stop laughing. You’re not helping my situation right now by laughing.” He tilts his head back and his arm is covering his eyes. I rolled over a little bit to rest my head on his chest. Putting my hand on his arm, I moved it out of the way and looked at him.  
“Carl, I’m not offended by that.”  
“You’re not?”  
“No, why would I be?”  
“I don’t know.” I moved up a little bit more to kiss him again. I broke our kiss and smiled at him.  
“It’s your fault you know that right.” I told him.  
“How is it my fault?”  
“Well if you didn’t start moving so close to me and kissing me, maybe you wouldn’t be in your situation right now.” I said with a huge smile on my face. He gives me a look and tells me is that so. Next thing I know, I’m underneath him and his lips are locked on mine. I felt him shift so he’s in between my legs and then I felt his hips grinding into mine.  
“Holy shit Carl.”  
“What? Are you okay?”  
“Ya I’m fine. I just wasn’t expecting that at all.” He’s still in between my legs but he moves his hips off of me and continues to kiss me. His kiss is over the top intoxicating and I have no idea why. I highly doubt either of us has had practice in the last four years or even beforehand. When everything went down, we were still in the cootie stage.  
He stops kissing me and moved down to my neck to start kissing it. He’s using his tongue and lips in a process that I have no idea how it’s possible to get someone so lost in the moment. I grabbed his head and pulled him back up to look at me.  
“You stopped me last night, so I’m stopping you.” He laughed and put his face down on my chest.  
“Your heart is beating really fast Mattie.” He said without even moving. My hands are still in his hair and I’m running my fingers through it.  
“That feels really good.” I smiled and continued to do it. For a second I thought he was sleeping until I felt him kiss my chest. I started laughing almost instantly. He moved up to kiss me before moving off of me.  
“If you keep biting your lip, I’m going to bite it.” He said with his back turned towards me. How did he know I was biting my lip?   
I sat up and wrapped my legs around him from behind. Then I reached around to hug him. I heard him chuckle quietly under his breath. He reached back and maneuvered his arm around me. Next thing I know, I’m in his arms and across his lap. Apparently I didn’t realize how strong he actually was.  
He kissed me deeply but it was all interrupted when we both heard footsteps. I sat up quickly and adjusted myself as Carl stood up. His face made me almost burst into a full fit of laughter. He acts like we’re doing something completely wrong.  
We’re teenagers and we could be dead tomorrow. It’s just a bunch of harmless fun. I’m enjoying myself and I really hope he is too. Actually I already know that he’s enjoying himself.


	12. Budding Romance

Budding Romance  
Carl’s POV  
I got up as soon as I heard the footsteps. I stood there for a minute before quickly getting dressed. Mattie is still on the bed, probably due to the lack of attire she has on.  
“I’ll be out there.” I say as I leave the room to let her get dressed. I’ve calmed myself down a little bit ago with Mattie’s help. I enjoyed kissing Mattie, a little too much and if it wasn’t for the footsteps, we could still be kissing.  
I walk into the kitchen to see me dad and Michonne eating with Judith. DJ is sitting there quietly.  
“Is Daryl and McKayla awake?” I ask.  
“No, we came out here and found DJ eating out of a small box of cereal.” I finally see the single serving box of cereal in his hand. He’s very self-efficient.   
“How’d you sleep?”  
“Oh, um fine.”  
“Is Mattie awake?”  
“Ya, I left so she could get dressed.” I say as I grab my coat and head outside. I know there’s a bathroom inside but right now, I really want some fresh air. I walk out the front door and turned the corner to go to the side of the building.  
After I finish, I head back up to the house and I see Daryl outside. I feel like I just committed a crime as I reached him. He’s smoking a cigarette and his hair is all sorts of crazy.  
“Long night?” I ask him. He smiles and laughs a little bit before taking another drag off his cigarette. I stood there next to him for a little bit. I wasn’t ready to go back inside. Finally, I get the urge to head inside.  
Without looking, I open the door and run directly into Mattie.  
“Sorry.” I say as I move out of the way to let her and Koda go outside.  
“It’s fine.” She says giving me a smile. Daryl moves between us and goes back inside.  
“Where are you going?”  
“I’m taking Koda for a little walk. He gets restless if I don’t.”  
“Your mom just lets you do that?”  
“Yea why? Koda will let me know if there’s something around and I have a weapon on me.” She says lifting her hoodie to reveal her handgun.  
“Want some company?” I ask and she tells me why not. I pop my head inside to tell my dad I’m going with her and he tells me to bring my gun. Of course now he’ll let me. I tell her I’ll be right back and run inside to go retrieve my gun from the weapons hold.  
Mattie’s POV  
I guess this is one way to get some alone time with Carl. Plus maybe we could talk about what’s going on between us. I don’t want to be that girl though that tries to turn something so small into a huge ordeal all at the same time.  
I enjoy kissing Carl. Yes, when I met him, I did think about the possibilities of killing him. I mean who wouldn’t if someone held a gun to your head. But I was able to catch him off guard and I got him on the ground.  
Finally, Carl walked back outside after retrieving his gun. We walked silently down a path that led to the side of the house. Koda almost immediately started taking off. He’s a Husky, they're meant to have wide open spaces to run. His breed of dog is actually related closely to the wolf. Now I know all dogs came from wolves at some point. But the way Koda acts it’s very similar.  
As we walk closer to the tree line and I notice Carl begin to inch towards me. I bump my hand into his and he grabs it. He laces his finger through mine and I start smiling. My hands were getting cold, but his are warming mine up.  
“Mattie, why are your hands so cold?” I heard him ask.  
“I don’t know, why are your hands so hot?” I begin to laugh to a little bit. It’s an honest question. We continued to walk and talk when I finally decided to stop. I needed to know.  
“Carl, what are we doing?” I ask him.  
“What do you mean?”  
“I mean, last night and this morning, with all of it. I don’t want to look too much into it because we just met. And plus one of could be dead tomorrow.” Next thing I knew, Carl grabs my face and kisses me. Without even thinking, I moved my hands to his waist. Then he stops and looks me directly in the eyes.  
“Mattie, I like kissing you. Don’t read too much into it. Let’s take it day by day. I’m not asking you to be my girlfriend because you're right, we could be dead tomorrow. So for right now, shut up and kiss me.” He says and his lips capture mine.  
We switched out hand positions at some point. I felt his hands move down my back slowly and rested firmly on my lower back. My hands were in his hair holding onto it softly. I already figured out that he likes this based from what was going on this morning.  
We stood under the tree for a while. He ended up pushing me up against the tree to get better leverage. I think it was so he could push himself up against me so I knew exactly what I was doing to him. If only he knew what exactly he was doing to me as he did that. My insides are doing backflips every time he moves his hips into mine.  
He finally pulls away and we stand there for a minute to calm ourselves down. My heart is beating so fast right now and I have a feeling so is his. Carl sounds winded as I hear him breathe in and out. I smile at him before kissing him once again quickly before we head back to the house. I feel like I’m going to turn into a Popsicle if I stay outside any longer. 

McKayla’s POV  
Last night was absolutely amazing. After I gave Daryl back his ring back and our little power nap. We made love once again, this time a lot slower. I think the reason why it happened so fast the first time, was because it’s been four years.  
The second time though, we savored every single minute of it. It could’ve been short but it felt like it dragged on for hours. I just really hope I was quiet because I’m not sure if I was loud or not. The last thing either of us need, is for the entire place know exactly what we’ve been doing all night.  
As I rearrange stuff in mine and Daryl’s room, I see Mattie and Carl outside walking Koda. I’m happy that they’re getting along. I turn around to get something but when I turn around they’re holding hands. Well maybe they are more than getting along. Next thing I knew, our bedroom door swings open and in comes Daryl.  
“What’s wrong with you?” I ask turning around and folding a shirt.  
“I’m not sure if having those two bunking together is a smart idea.” And here comes the father afraid for his daughter conversation that I never thought we’d have. At least it’s only one guy and not a school full of them. I finish folding the shirt and put it in the drawer before walking over to Daryl.  
“Daryl, their teenagers and under these circumstances, they found each other. If we find out that they’re together, then we will not intervene. If we were to tell them that they can’t be together, they’ll just want to be with each other even more.” I tell him and he smirks.  
“Sounds like you have some experience in the matter.”  
“I might know a thing or two.” I smile. Back when Daryl and I first got together, my brother Aaron was dead set against it. He didn’t want us to be together and tried to keep us apart. It wasn’t until my mama got sick that Aaron finally realized that Daryl is a good guy. He’s not a player like his brother Merle.  
Daryl had his moments when he was younger but that was mainly because of Merle. Once he met me though, something in him changed. When my mama’s ALS progressed rapidly, Daryl ended up moving in to help me out. I didn’t have the money to hire a nurse and I wasn’t strong enough to lift her up. Daryl was there and he helped. Mama was the one that told Aaron that we were getting married before I had any idea we were.  
I feel Daryl’s calloused hand on my cheek to turn me towards him. He looks at me and smiles before capturing my lips. I think he’s trying to make up for the lost time but I really want to test something right now. Slowly, I slipped my hand through his shirt and up to his ribs. I was going to tickle him but he apparently knew exactly what I was up to. He grabbed my wrist from inside of his shirt and glared at me. I smiled and he kissed me again quickly.  
“Were you seriously trying to tickle me?”  
“Nope. I have no idea what you’re talking about.” I say with an even bigger smile.  
“You’re not a good liar McKayla.” He shifts his entire body weight so he’s on top of me, pinning me down into the mattress. I know exactly what he’s going to do so I try to buck him off of me. It was useless, Daryl was stronger than me but he didn’t do what I thought he was going to do. He kissed me.  
Daryl’s POV  
From the look in her eyes, I knew she thought I was going to tickle her but I wasn’t. I just wanted to act like I was. I bent down and put my lips on hers. She smiled as I kissed her which made me smile in return.  
The conversation that we just had about Mattie and Carl made me think that she is right. When it’s a conversation about this stuff, she usually is right. I thought about all of this as I started to kiss down her neck. She moaned softly as I nipped at the skin on her collarbone. I let go of her hands which found its way into my hair.  
“You need a haircut.” She told me and I looked up at her.  
“You don’t like my long hair?” I said smiling.  
“Mm, kind of, just maybe if it was a little shorter. I like that I can pull on it though.”  
“You do huh?” She smiled and nodded while biting her lip. She’s in a playful mood now. Whenever she bites her lip, she’s wanting something from me.  
“What do you want McKayla?”  
“You.”  
“You have me. You’ve always had me.” Then my lips were back on hers. I reached my arm underneath her and pulled her up off the bed as her fingers tugged on my hair. Her legs wrapped around my waist as I stood completely up. I can lift her up with ease like I’ve always been able to.  
I walked to a wall and pushed her up against it with her wrapped tightly around my body. My tongue invading her mouth possessively. With her legs wrapped around my waist, I was able to lean back and move my hands on the inside of her shirt. I slowly started to take her shirt off and she lift her arms up so I could take it off. I wasn’t expecting her to not have anything on underneath it.  
Burying my face into her chest, I began to kiss and nip at the skin. Her breathing became heavier as I cupped her breast and squeezed it. I don’t want to be rough because I want to savor this moment. Her hands moved out of my hair and started scratching my back. I let out a loud moan.  
The last thing either of us expected was to hear someone knocking then our daughter Mattie opening the door.  
“Mom, do you have… What are you…Oh my God?” The door slammed and McKayla started laughing hysterically. Our daughter just walked in on us. I looked up at McKayla that has her hand over her mouth. I put her down and pinched the bridge of my nose.  
“Well, I guess Mattie will never be able to look at us the same way ever again.” She says still laughing. I never walked in on my parents doing that and neither had she.  
“I know. Come on, let’s go take a shower.” She raises an eyebrow and we both start heading to the bathroom. She grabs her shirt and throws it on, while I grab a set of clothes for the both of us and our bag of toiletries.


	13. It's Your Love

It’s Your Love  
McKayla’s POV  
The sun fell a couple hours ago and the moon has taken its place. The moon is large and bright as it shines through the living room window laminating it slightly. The fireplace is lit and the wood is burning to keep the living room warm. The kids have gone to bed which leaves the adults to sit around to talk.  
I’m sitting on the couch while Daryl is sitting between my legs, eating a can of fruit cocktail. Everyone’s sitting around with some sort of can in their possession, barely talking. It startles me slightly when Maggie speaks to ask me a question.  
“So McKayla, how did you and Daryl meet?” She asks me. Daryl looks up at me, giving me the okay to tell them. I smile and reach down to put my hand on his shoulder.  
“My brother Aaron and his brother Merle actually grew up with one another. So one summer Aaron took me on a small road trip and that’s when I met him again.”  
“Again?” Maggie said.  
“Her and her mama moved when she was five.”  
“Oh, why did you guys move?”  
“My dad died, mama got depressed. Aaron was already stationed someone, so she didn’t really have a reason to stay.”  
“Oh okay. I’m sorry if I’m being nosey. It’s just that we had no idea Daryl was married or even had a kid, well kids.”  
“Oh Maggie, your perfectly fine. And as for why Daryl never told you guys, well that’s all on him. Maybe he didn’t want you guys to feel sorry for him. I’ve seen it before. He has a tendency of keeping things to himself.” I say as I run my fingers through his hair.  
“I’m gonna go outside. I’ll be back.” Daryl says standing up and kisses me before heading outside.  
“How old were you when you two met then?” Maggie asked.  
“I was sixteen. But nothing even happened until I was eighteen.”  
“How old was Daryl?” I smiled and I told them that Daryl was nineteen. Every question they had for me, I answered. Maggie heaved forward in pain which made everyone almost jump up on their feet.  
“I’m fine. Just a Braxton-Hicks.” She took a deep breath and leaned back into the couch.  
“Have you thought about how you’re going to have the baby yet?” I asked her. Maggie and Glenn looked at each other and smiled.  
“We’ve thought about it, were just nervous. Raymond was a doctor at least, but we’re afraid of complications for me or the baby.” As she said that, Rick looked down and the atmosphere changed in the living room. I took that queue to get up and check out what’s holding Daryl outside.  
“I’m going to go find Daryl. Good night everyone.” I said and they told me good night as well.  
Daryl’s POV  
As I lit up my cigarette, I heard footsteps walking down the path to my left. I looked and saw Carol walking back up to the house. I took another drag as she reached me.  
“I’m surprised you’re not inside with everyone.” I told her.  
“I needed some fresh air. Plus I wanted to check the perimeter before bed.” I nodded and took another drag. She leaned up against the wall next to me. I heard her laugh quietly. I tilted my head in her direction and gave her a questionable stare.  
“It’s weird to see you with a wedding ring on Daryl.” She told me. I smiled and twisted the ring on my finger.  
“I’m still getting used to it.” She laughed again and told me that it’s a good look on me. We stood there for a minute before McKayla popped her head out before joining us.  
“Hey, Carol.” She said. Carol said hey and then headed inside. McKayla’s eyes shifted to mine and I raised my shoulders to signify that I have no idea what just happened. We stood there silently for a while. I finished my cigarette and was about to tell her that we’re going back inside. Instead, she grabbed my hand and pulled me into the yard.  
“What are you doing?” I asked her.  
“We’re dancing in the moonlight.” I smiled and followed her lead to the open yard. She places her hand in mine while wrapping her hand around my neck and I wrapped my hand around her waist. We began to sway, but it was difficult to do so with no music. Then she started to hum a song. I smiled and leaned down to kiss her forehead.  
“You’re humming our wedding song.” I told her and she started to sing it. It’s Your Love. I pulled her in close and then pushed her back so I could spin her. When I pulled her back, I dipped her slowly and kissed her lips before pulling her back up.   
We looked at each other in the eyes and I saw a tear falling down her cheek. I leaned in and kissed her cheek where the tear was. When I looked at her again she was smiling.  
“Daryl, I love you.”  
“I love you too.” And she pulled me in for a kiss that seemed like it lasted forever. I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her in close to me. We hardly moved, we just swayed back and forth as she continued to hum the song.   
She finally pulled away from me and told me that she’s getting tired. I leaned down and picked her up to cradle her in my arms. Wrapping her arms around my neck she buried her face in my neck and kissed it softly. I made my way up the stairs, through the front door and then into our bedroom.  
Laying her down on the bed, I start taking off her shoes and socks and threw them on the floor. I leaned up to undo her belt and jeans to slide them off her body. She started to giggle when I kissed her hip bone. The things I do that makes her squirm in pleasure is amusing to me. Once she was undressed and I was, I laid down next to her and we quickly found sleep in each other’s arms. She was too tired to do anything tonight because her eyes closed quickly.  
Carl’s POV  
“Night Carl.” I hear my dad say, but I don’t say anything. I close my door with my new clothes in my arms. Walking over to my dresser, I notice Mattie asleep on the top bunk.  
I was hoping I’d find her in my bunk, but that’s wishful thinking. I finish putting my clothes away to see Mattie laying on her back. Her shirt is pushed up and her entire stomach is showing. I can see her hip bones as I move closer. I begin to feel myself getting hard. I take deep breath to relax myself.  
Getting ready for bed is a difficult task. I’m trying to stay quiet, but I keep tripping over myself. My mind keeps running back to Mattie. I just want to climb up to her bunk and lay next to her, but I’m not sure how’d she feel. I move the thought to the back of my mind.  
Climbing into bed and pulling the covers over me, I notice a piece of paper shoved into the spaces above me. I pulled it out to read it.  
Wake me if you get lonely. Mattie  
I wanted to wake her up, I really did but she looked so peaceful sleeping. Her beautiful lips slightly parted as she would breathe in and out. I wanted to put my lips to hers but I wanted her to sleep. I know she didn’t get much sleep last night, I could feel her moving next to me.  
I pulled her into my arms to keep her from moving. And it worked, she hardly move the rest of the night. I didn’t realize until I wrapped my arms around her, how soft her skin was. I know my hands aren’t soft, their rough from surviving but she didn’t mind. She snuggled right into me and it felt right.  
I never thought I would find someone my age or close to it. If Sophia didn’t die and turn into a walker, it could’ve been me and her. I liked her and was sad when I saw her walk out of that barn. But when I was in the store and saw Mattie, my heart stopped. She was absolutely beautiful. I think that’s part of the reason why I lowered my gun.  
I would do anything to keep her safe. I would do anything to keep her from becoming one of those things. My eyes began to close as I continued to think about the girl just on the other side of the bunk. I kept getting the urge to wake her up to get her to come down her but I kept telling myself no. Then she shifted in her bed and popped her head down.  
“Want some company down there?” She asked me and I smiled while I nodded yes. She climbed off her bunk and slipped underneath my blanket. Laying her head on my chest, I pull her tightly to me and she wraps her leg around mine.  
“If someone were to tell you a week ago, you’d be doing this. What would you say?” Mattie asked me.  
“I’d probably laugh at them and tell them they’re nuts.” She stretches up and kisses me on the lips. I grabbed her thigh that was over mine and grabbed her side so she could be on top of me. She yelped quietly as I did that and smiled. With my hands on her hips, she bends back down to kiss me after pushing her hair to one side.  
She starts moving her hips back and forth as she’s straddling me. I move my hands from her hips and slowly gliding up her side from inside of her top. She sits back, crosses her arms in front of her and pulls off her top. Her breasts are now in full view. She grabs my hands to put them on her breasts and I smile.  
Mattie’s POV  
I don’t think he was expecting me to take my top off or even grabbing his hands to put them on my exposed breasts. I wanted his hands on me. I’ve wanted his hands on me since last night. His hands are rough on my soft skin but his touch is gentle and it’s driving me nuts.  
He moves his hands from my breasts and slides them to my back to pull me close to him. I have to use my arm strength to keep myself up as he captures my lips again. I feel his tongue trying to invade my mouth and I open it slightly to let him in. Our tongues are now intertwining with one another as his hands slide down my back to my hips.  
I feel his thumbs press into the front of my hip and he starts pushing me back and forth on him. My insides feel like there on fire as he does it. He moves his hands move from my hips, down passed the help of my shorts and down to the top of thighs. In one swift movement, he’s on top of me, pushing his hips into me.  
He pushes his hips on me one more time before stopping completely to look at me. I’m trying to catch my breath as he smiles. I give him a glare and he rolls off of me.  
“Why do you always stop when it gets good?” I say rolling on my side to face him.  
“I just think we might be moving fast for all the wrong reasons.”  
“And what reason would that be Carl?” I ask him. He runs his hand through his hair before turning on his side to face me.  
“That we could be dead tomorrow. We don’t know. We could be dead in five minutes.” As he said that, my heart felt like it was breaking because he was right.  
We laid there in silence for a while before he moves closer to me and pulls me towards him. He kisses me deeply and stretches his arm out so I can lay on it. I really hope he’s as comfortable as I am. His fingers start moving down my side to the hip I have the scar. I quickly put my hand on his to stop him.  
“Mattie, what really happened that day?” I opened my eyes to look at him. I took a deep breath before I started to tell him.  
“We just got to New York. We found a place to stay and my mom was laying DJ down. While she was doing that, three men broke in and one of them pinned me down on my stomach on the table. The other two waited for my mom to come back out of the room. When she walked out, they grabbed her and pinned her down.” I took another deep breath before continuing.  
“I don’t think the guy realized I hid a gun or he didn’t realize I had one. But I was able to reach under the table to grab it. It all happened so fast. Next thing I knew, there were three bodies on the ground and my mom was standing there in front of me trying to grab my gun.” Carl shifted to look me in the eyes. As soon as he did that, the tears that I was trying to hold in started to pour out.  
“Carl, I killed them. I shot all three men in the head without any hesitation.” Carl pulled me close to him and told me that I had to do what I had to. I cried into his chest while he rubbed my back to calm me down. Once I calmed down, he grabbed my top and helped me put it back on. Then he pulled me back to him and we both fell asleep in each other’s arms.


	14. Two Months

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is in Aaron's POV only.  
> Some of the dialect is from the show just to let everyone know in advance.

Two Months  
Aaron’s POV  
It’s been two months since the outbreak occurred. Two months since we crashed just a few miles outside of D.C. Two months since of traveling and fighting for our lives against this army of the walking dead. Two months since I’ve seen my family and I don’t even know if they’re alive.  
Now were standing outside of a large concrete wall that stretches across the state of Maine. How we even found out about this place was on pure luck. We came across some other soldiers and this is where they said they were going. We followed them until the infection took them, but we kept heading this way. We wanted a safe zone and we found it.  
As the gate opens, Izzie grabs my hand and squeezes it tightly. Flannery and Mathey are standing behind us ready for anything. The last thing we expected was to see men, women and children playing in the street. The soldiers that were manning the gate told us to come in. We followed every direction that they had for us, without any type of hesitation. Izzie kept a tight grip on my hand the entire time.  
“What’s your name?” A soldier asked me.  
“Oh um, Aaron. Aaron Forbes.”  
“What about you ma’am?”  
“Specialist Elizabeth Anderson.” Izzie said and she looked up at me. I nodded and squeezed her hand to calm her down.  
“What about you two back there? What's your guy’s names?”  
“I’m Sergeant Patrick Flannery.”  
“I’m Private First Class Johnathon Mathey.” The soldier nods and asks us to follow him. We followed him down the street and straight up into a house.  
“This is where you four can stay tonight. We’ll find a different location tomorrow after you’ve all seen the Doctor.”  
“The Doctor?” I asked him.  
“Newcomers must see the Doctor before being completely let out in public. It’s just a safety precaution, that’s all. We all do it, as soon as we get back. The last thing we want is something to be brought out to the public.” He explained which actually made sense. Flannery and Mathey followed the soldier into the house. I stopped for a minute to catch my breath and relax for a minute on the steps.  
“You alright there old bloke?” Izzie says sitting down next to me.  
“Oh I’m old again are I?”  
“No but you are acting like it.” She says and nudges me with her shoulder. We sat there in silence for a minute.  
“Are you sure you’re alright Aaron?”  
“Ya Izzie I’m fine. My leg just hurts a little bit. Been working it too much.” She stands up and holds out a hand to help me up. I take it and I stand. She puts her arm around my waist and my arm around her should to help me up the steps.  
We walk in the front door to see that the lights are on and I took in a sharp breath. Flannery and Mathey look like kids in a candy store, running around the entire house and jumping up and down. We have power, something that we haven’t had in two months. Izzie looks up to me and wraps her arms around my neck.  
“Mr. Forbes, may I talk to you for a moment, please?”  
“Sure and call me Aaron.” I followed the soldier to the front porch.  
“I just wanted to explain that the power is from a solar panel on the top of this house. Each house has its own set of solar panels. Everything works, including hot water but it only last for about a half hour, give or take. After that, you have to wait a little bit for it to heat back up. Someone should be here shortly to drop off some supplies for the rest of today and part of tomorrow.”  
“Okay. Hey um, you wouldn’t happen to know if there’s anyone here by the last name Dixon do you?”  
“Not that I recall but I’ll double check and I’ll let you know tomorrow. The Doctor wants to see you all tomorrow at eleven.” He asks and he starts walking down the steps.  
“Hey, sorry one more question. In that supply package, they wouldn’t happen to put some pain killers in there would they?”  
“Depends on the pain you’re in? Would you like to go see the Doctor now?” I took a deep breath and nodded. I told him to hold on for a moment so I could go back inside and tell Izzie that I’m going to see the Doctor now. Of course, she insisted on going with me.  
We sat there in a small room for a while before an older man walked in. His hair was white and was pulled back in a hair tie. There was no way this man was a doctor but then again, looks can be deceiving.  
“Are you Aaron Forbes?” The Doctor said.  
“Yes Sir I am.”  
“I’m Dr. Johnathon Whitaker but everyone typically calls me Whit.” He said with an extremely thick British accent.  
“Nice to meet you Whit.”  
“What can I do for you today Aaron?” He asks sitting down in a chair. I take a deep breath and look at Izzie. She gives me a look to tell me that I need to open my mouth.  
“It’s my upper leg. It hurts.”  
“Let’s see.” I watch Izzie tense up a little bit. She’s only glanced at my leg a few times when I’ve had my prosthetic off while we were resting. It’s not something that I show.  
“I’ll wait outside.” Izzie says, leaning in to kiss me on the cheek and giving me a smile before leaving the room. I stand up and undo my pants which reveals my prosthetic leg. Whit looks at me and nods. Sitting back up on the table, I unstrap the prosthetic and take it off. Whit starts checking it over.  
“How long ago did this happen?”  
“About ten years ago.”  
“How’d it happen?”  
“I was a Marine. The copter went down and my leg got stuck underneath it. I could’ve lost a lot more than just my leg if I didn’t get out of there.” He nods and continues to examine my leg.  
“Well, the end of the bone that’s at the amputation site, is swollen. I think the best thing we can do for right now is have you off of your feet for a little bit.”  
“I can’t do that. I get restless when I can’t do anything.”  
“I’m not saying bed rest. We have wheelchairs that you can use to move around with. Just for a week. You don’t want your leg to get even more swollen than it already is. It can cause worse problems.” We finish the exam and I get dressed. A knock on the door ends with us finding out that someone wants to see my group. Whit disappears for a few minutes but comes back with a wheelchair which Izzie automatically begins to chuckle a little bit.  
A few minutes later, we enter a large facility as Izzie helps me roll up a ramp. There’s people running back and forth in lab coats. It took me a few minutes but I finally realized what this place is. It’s the control center for the entire safe zone and most likely where their trying to find the cure due to the lab coats. Izzie continues to push me down and aisle but I stop her when I see someone on a computer monitor talking.  
“Jenner here. Its day 194 since Wildfire was declared and 63 days since the disease abruptly went global. There’s no clinical progress to report.”  
The picture breaks off and back in. He’s now shuffling some papers.  
“Item- I finally got the scrubbers in the east sector shut down to save power. Wish I could have done it a month ago, but it took me that long to figure it out. Too bad I never studied engineering, could have saved a lot of amps.”  
The video breaks in and out again. Izzie puts her hand on my shoulder and I put my hand on top of hers.  
“Item- I’m still not sleeping well. Can’t seem to keep regular hours. Living underground doesn’t help, not knowing if it’s day or night. I’m just feeling very off-kilter these days.”  
The screen goes black and a message that reads “END TRANSMISSION”  
Izzie squeezes my shoulder and we get told to keep moving. We continue on our way to a large room that’s black. Then we hear the lights turn on before the room lights up.  
“Welcome to the New Haven safe zone.” Said a man that was standing in the center of the room. It took me a minute but I realized who it was. It’s the United States Secretary of Defense leader.


	15. Next Morning

Next Morning  
Daryl’s POV  
I woke up to McKayla sprawled out next to me. Her hair is everywhere to the point that I can hardly find her face. Smiling, I start to find it by gently pulling her hair away from her face. Once I find it, I kiss her cheek before getting off the bed. I get dressed quickly and leave the room, closing the quietly behind me.  
Walking down the hallway, I see Maggie, waddling her way down the stairs. I start to laugh but apparently I laughed a little too loud. Maggie turns around and gives me a glare.  
“Daryl, don’t be an ass.”  
“Sorry, I didn’t mean anything by it. Want a hand?” She puts her head down, as I reached out my hand. She places her hand in mine and I help her the rest of the way down the stairs.  
“Where’s Glenn?”  
“He’s still sleeping. I didn’t want to wake him. I’m hungry as usual and my damn feet hurt.” She tells me as we make it to the ground floor. She tells me thank you and she starts to walk away.  
“Maggie, how about you come for a walk with me. The swelling will go down. You don’t want to stay seated for too long.” She turns around and gives me a questionable look before nodding. I grab her coat and help her put it on. She smiles and shakes her head as I open the front door for her.  
We walk down the path and I kept my pace slow so she could keep up with me. I grabbed her hand and hooked it on my arm so she could keep her balance. She smiles and shakes her head once again as we walked down the steps and headed towards the tree line.  
“It’s weird to think you know a lot more about pregnant women than people think.”  
“Ya well, I had my share fair of it.” I told her.  
“Have you thought of any names?” She nods but she looked hesitant on telling me.  
“Daryl, if it’s a girl, Glenn and I are thinking about naming her Bethany.” My heart ached when said that. I couldn’t say anything though. She stopped in her tracks and looked up at me.  
“Daryl, it's okay to miss her. I miss her too.”  
“Maggie, I miss her every damn day, but I don’t want to.” She nods and I watch her wipe a tear from her eye. We start walking again down the path and every so often I’d stop to check the snares I had set up around the property. Maggie was beginning to walk better so I didn’t have to fully help her walk.  
As we walked back up to the house, she stopped me.  
“Have you told McKayla?” I looked at her trying to figure out what she’s talking about.  
“Told McKayla what Maggie?”  
“That you loved my sister Daryl.” Maggie has never said that to me. She knew that part of me did, but I don’t think she ever wanted to admit it or say it out loud. I just shook my head no and walked away.  
McKayla’s POV  
I wake up to a painful muscle spasm in my right leg. I knew sooner or later it was going to happen, but I wasn’t expecting it to wake me out of a dead sleep. Taking deep and steady breaths waiting for the pain and the spasm to relax was the only thing I could do. The amount of pain I was in, it made me feel nauseous.  
Once it was done, I sat at the edge of the bed before standing up. Apparently I didn’t realize my feet were also numb. I fell directly to the floor with a hard thump. Then I heard a knock on the door.  
“McKayla? Everything alright in their sweetie?” It’s Carol.  
“Ya, I’m fine.” I grab the bed sheet and wrap it around me. I heard Carol ask if she could come in. I said yes because I have no idea what I’m going to do right now. She opened the door, saw me and quickly came in shutting the door behind me.  
“What happened?”  
“I woke up to a muscle spasm. When that was over, I tried to get off the bed but my feet are numb.”  
“Have you been drinking enough water?” I told her yes. And then she asked me if I knew what was wrong. And I nodded.  
“I have amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or ALS. My symptoms started a few months ago, but I haven’t been able to treat it because there’s not a point.” Carol wraps her arms around my waist and helps me up so I can sit on the bed. She walks over to the dresser and starts searching for clothes. I wasn’t even going to argue with her. She pulls a shirt over me and I put my arms through the holes. Then she starts sliding a pair of jeans up my legs.  
It’s a little weird because we just met, but it’s also very nice. Carol is a very kind older woman. After she helped me get dressed, she helped me stand. We went slowly to the bedroom door and as she reached for the handle, Daryl opened the door.  
“McKayla, what’s wrong?”  
“I fell, Daryl. I’m fine. Carol helped me.” Carol handed me over to Daryl and gave me a warm smile before leaving the room. He pulled me close to him so I can use his strength to help me stand better. My legs are weak and with everything that’s happened, my energy diminished.  
“McKayla, how about you go back to bed.”  
“No, I want to go downstairs.” He says okay and lifts me into his arms. We walk down the hallway as Mattie walks out her bedroom door.  
“Dad, what’s wrong with mom?”  
“Nothing baby. She’s fine. We’ll talk to you in a little bit. Go get cleaned up for breakfast.” She says okay and heads towards the bathroom. Daryl walks down the stairs with me still in her arms. Once we get into the kitchen, he sits me down on a chair and everyone is eying us trying to figure out what’s going on. I never thought this was going to be how my life would turn out, but you never know anymore, unfortunately.  
Mattie’s POV  
The last thing I expected this morning when I woke up was my dad carrying my mom down the hall. There’s seriously something wrong and it’s starting to scare me. She’s been acting weird for a few months now, but she won’t tell me. I know she’s been tired, but I’ve seen her lose her balance on more than one occasion.  
I went to the bathroom and started to brush my teeth when I heard someone knock on the door. With the toothbrush still in my mouth, I walked to the door to see who it was. I opened it a little bit to see Carl half awake. I smiled and grabbed his hand to pull him in.  
“Well, good morning to you too.” He says passing me. The bathroom is set up weird. There’s a separate door for where the toilet is which works out perfectly if there’s more than one person in the bathroom. He walks in there and closes the door. I smile as I finish brushing my teeth.  
Carl walks back out and over to me. He leans over the sink to wash his hands as I hop up on the counter. He splashes some water on his face to probably wake him up. Then he splashes some cold water on my leg.  
“Ass. That’s cold.” He smiles and moves so he’s now in between my legs. I wrap my arm and legs around him and he puts his hands on my waist. He leans in and kisses me gently.  
“You taste like spearmint.” He says and I start to laugh before kissing him again. Nothing wrong with making out in the bathroom with a house full of people. He stops kissing my lips and begins kissing down my neck. I run my fingers through his hair pulling on it a little harder then I usually do. A loud groan escapes his mouth and he looks up at me.  
I smile and grabs my hands, pulls them behind me and pins them there. With one hand, he pulls me closer to him and he starts thrusting his hips into mine. My back arches as he does that and his teeth nips on the skin of my collarbone. I’m trying to figure out why he keeps working himself up like this when he’s always the one that stops it.  
He stops and looks at me with a devilish grin. His hands lets go of my wrists which then move to waist. I would push his pants off just to tell him that I want him but we were cut short. Another knock on the door and his dad’s voice ruins the moment.  
“Hold on dad.” I watch him adjust himself and I quickly get dressed. He looks at me and I nod. I moved behind him and he opens the door to let his dad in. We both left the bathroom, trying to keep a straight face. His dad looked completely confused which was amusing.  
We walked into our shared bedroom before we both burst out laughing. I watch Carl walk over to his bed and lays flat on his stomach. I walk over to him and climb on top of him to massage his shoulders. He starts to shift to the point he’s now on his back facing me.  
“When you get on top of me, it always ends with me wanting more.” He says leaning up so were only a few inches from each other’s faces.  
“You’re the one that keeps stopping it Carl.” He smiles and kisses me. He scoots the edge of the bed and leans me back. I was going to scream but I know he wouldn’t drop me. He has a lot of strength plus I’m small so it’s probably nothing for him. Then I feel his hand moving up my stomach.  
Carl’s POV  
Once again I’m hard as a rock because of Mattie. She’s too damn hot and I just want to bury myself deep inside of her. I just have no idea how to go about doing this. My hand is moving up her stomach to her breasts and she’s moaning quietly as I do this. I finally pull her back up to me.  
I watch her move her hands between us and she starts to pull my shirt off over my head. Lifting up my arms to help her out, she throws the shirt on the other side of the room. The last thing I expected was her getting up to lock the door. She came back over to me but she doesn’t sit back on my lap. Instead she kneels in front of me and my entire posture tightens.  
She smiles and pushes me back so I’m lying on back. I can feel her fingers wrapping around the top of my jeans as she undoes the button. Holy shit she’s going for it. I reach for her hand to stop her. I lean back up to look at her and she smiles.  
“Carl, just let me do this.” I take a deep breath, let go of her hand and fall backwards onto the bed. I’m not one hundred percent sure what she’s doing but I have a pretty good guess. She tugs on my pants but she doesn’t fully take them off. I feel her hand move to the inside of my boxers and her hand grasps me softly.  
Her hand begins to move up and down and my mouth opens. This was the last thing I expected to happen when we came back in here. She tightened her grip a little bit and then let’s go. I sit up and she climbs on top of me. Her mouth finds mine and she continues to stroke me.  
I stopped kissing her and bury my face into her neck. I can feel myself getting ready. Reaching down between us, I grab her hand to make her stop.  
“Mattie, I’m way too close and I’d rather not make a mess.” She smiles then crawls back to kneel in front of me. While still keeping eye contact, she slips it out and puts it in her mouth. Holy hell. She continued to stroke me as she licked the tip. She tightens her grip and I find my release. I let go in her mouth and she doesn’t even flinch.  
When I’m finally done, she lets go and crawls back up on my lap. She wraps her arms around my neck and smiles. My jaw drops open from what just happened. A faint giggle escaped her mouth.  
“How did you learn to do that?”  
“Um, Cosmo.” She said with a huge grin that almost stretched from ear to ear.  
“What the hell is Cosmo?”  
“It’s um a magazine that has a few sex articles.”  
“Oh, well thank you Cosmo and thank you for well you know.” She puts her head in her hands and she begins to laugh uncontrollably. We finally calm ourselves down and decide to join everyone downstairs for breakfast.  
As we both hit the main floor, she grabbed my hand and we walked into the kitchen. All eyes were on us and I felt awkward but apparently she didn’t. She seriously can act casual no matter what situation. I watch her grab two plates of food from Christie before walking back over to me and handing me a plate. With a smile, I follow her to the table and we join in on the conversation while we eat our breakfast.


	16. Prognosis

Prognosis  
McKayla’s POV  
Daryl and I have been bickering back and forth over the last few weeks, five to be exact, on how we’re going to tell Mattie. He keeps saying that we just flat out and tell her. I say that we ease our way into it. I’ve asked Carol’s opinion and she always says it’s up to us. I just have no idea how we’re going to tell her when we can’t decide on how to tell her.  
Every morning when I get up, Daryl is right there beside me to help me if needed. I hate that he’s wasting valuable time on me when he should be helping everyone else with the preparations for the winter. He insists though because the last thing either of us wants is for Mattie to walk in on me on the floor like Carol.  
After I wake up, I get dressed and make my way down the stairs as slowly as possible so I don’t trip over myself. It takes a lot of energy out of me but Carol is usually at the bottom of the stairs waiting for me. I know Mattie has noticed, but she just hasn’t said anything about it yet. She knew something was up when she watched Daryl carry me down the stairs two weeks ago. We need to tell her and we’re telling her today.  
I roll over to see Daryl still sound asleep. Moving the covers off of me, I make sure I can feel my legs and my feet by pinching them lightly. It’s something that Carol suggested so I don’t fall face first on the ground. Grabbing a pair of sweats, I pull them up and secure them tightly around my waist along with a hoodie.  
Walking out of the bedroom, I see Mattie walking out of hers and she tells me good morning. Before she gets too far I grab her arm.  
“Mattie, wanna go for a walk with me?”  
“Sure? Everything alright?”  
“Ya, I just need to talk to you.” She nods and walks back into the bedroom. Kisses Carl on the cheek before returning to me with her coat. Those two are cute together. We walk outside and down the path that leads to the tree line. On the other side of the house, there’s a concrete bench that I like to sit on, so we head there. We both take a seat and Mattie asks me what’s going on.  
“You know how your grandmother Pam passed away before you were born?” She nods her head yes.  
“She died of a disease called ALS, I’m not going to give you the long name. But it’s a disease that basically affects your nervous system. Your grandmother technically died of respiratory failure.”  
“Mom, why are you telling me this?”  
“Mattie, I’m telling you this because that’s what’s wrong with me.” She proceeded to ask me how long I’ve known and I told her. Then she asked me if dad knew and I said yes. Then she stood up.  
“You’ve known for months and you didn’t tell me? What was I going to do? Wake up one morning and find you dead or one of the things? You and dad both can go to hell right now.” And she ran off as Daryl made his appearance.   
Daryl’s POV  
When I woke up and found that McKayla wasn’t next to me. I heard some voices coming from outside, so I looked out to see Mattie and McKayla sitting on a bench together. Quickly finding my clothes, I get dressed and head outside. When I got out there, Mattie was running off away from us and the house.  
“McKayla, what the hell just happened?” I asked as I reached her.  
“I told her and now she hates the both of us because you knew before she did.”  
“Oh. I’ll go talk to her.”  
“Daryl, just let her be. She’s hurt.” I put my head down and took a seat next to McKayla on the bench. Reaching my arm around her, I pull her in close to keep her warm. I begin to hear her sniffle, which means that I should probably get her inside.  
Standing up, I put my hand out so she can grab it. She stands up slowly and put her arm through mine. We walk slowly back up to the house and I watch Carl walk out the front door. Looking down at McKayla, she shakes her head and I walk up to Carl.  
“Hey Daryl, any idea where Mattie is?”  
“Ya, I do. I need to talk to you first.” Carl’s eyes widened and I think I might have just scared the living day-lights out of the boy.  
“It’s not like that. You’re safe.” He nods and I tell him about McKayla being sick. That McKayla told Mattie and now Mattie has run off. Carl looks down and then back up at me.  
“Do you want me to go find her?”  
“Ya, I don’t think she wants to see either of us right now.” He nods and I watch him walk in the direction where I told him Mattie went.  
Before I went inside, I lit up a cigarette and started smoking it. I already feel exhausted and I just got up. McKayla told Mattie and now she’s pissed off and took off to an unknown location. I’m not even sure if she has her gun on her.  
“Daryl!” I heard my name coming from inside. I flicked my cigarette and ran towards the entrance. Swinging the front door open, I see McKayla laying on the floor and Carol is holding her up. I stand there in the entrance completely stunned. I’m not even sure if I’m breathing.  
“Daryl, I can’t pick her up myself. We need to move her.” Carol told me and I snapped out of it. I ran over to them and picked McKayla up with ease. Following Carol down to the rooms we’ve been using as the infirmary, I placed her on a bed. Carol starts checking her over, shining a light in her eyes.  
“Daryl, she still has a pulse.”  
“What happened?”  
“She fell down the stairs Daryl. I was upstairs when I heard the bang. When I got to the landing, she was laying at the bottom.” I placed my head in my hands and I started to feel my eyes water. Carol puts her hand on my shoulder before telling me she’ll do everything she can, but it’s the waiting game now.  
Mattie’s POV  
I ran away from her after she told me. It hurt me that she couldn’t tell me when she first found out that she was sick. If we didn’t find dad when we did, who knows how long it would’ve taken her to tell me. Would it have been weeks, months or would she even tell me. She just broke my heart.  
I found a place by a lake and I sat there staring off into the distance. Still being aware of my surroundings because of the dangers that’s still around. I’m not even sure if it even matters anymore. Tears begin to fill my eyes and fall down my cheeks. I try to wipe them away, but it doesn’t work. They’re flowing down my face before I can even stop them.  
“Mattie?” I heard Carl say behind me. My dad must’ve told him to find me. I didn’t turn around, I didn’t want him to see me like this.  
I watched him sit down next to me from the corner of my eye. We sat there in silence as I continued to cry. He moved closer to me and put an arm around me. I fell into him and started to cry even harder.  
“Mattie, I know what’s going on. Your dad told me. I’m sorry.” He says kissing the top of my head. Taking a deep breath to calm myself down before looking up at him.  
“I told my mom that her and my dad that they can go to hell. I don’t even know why I said it. It just came out before I could even stop myself.”  
“We always say things we don’t mean to the people we love the most.” I pulled my legs up to my chest and buried my face into my knees while hugging them. I feel like shit.  
It’s getting colder by the day and we all know that we’re going to have a harsh winter. We’ve been preparing as much as we possibly can. Stocking up on as many supplies we possibly can. Christie has been charging up generators in case the turbine freezes. Every couple days, a few members of the group go out on a run.  
A few days ago, Carl actually went out on a run with his dad and my dad. The entire time they were gone, I was pacing back and forth. Carol kept telling me that they’re fine but I was still worried. When I saw the truck pull up, I ran directly to it and jumped in Carl’s arms. I think that was to show the entire group that we were together.  
“Mattie, I have something for you.” Carl says stopping me as we made it to the house. He grabs my left hand and rubs the top of it with his thumb. I watch him reach into his coat pocket and then he looks me directly in the eyes.  
“Will you be my girlfriend, officially?” He then slid a ring on my ring finger. A bunch of diamonds were placed in the center with smaller diamonds going off the side. It was absolutely gorgeous and I can’t believe this was the way he asked me.  
“Yes Carl. Yes I’ll be your girlfriend.” I said wrapping my arms his neck. I lean back a little bit so I could kiss him and he tightens his grip. Next thing we knew it started snowing and it was perfect. We must’ve been kissing longer than we thought because when we opened our eyes all we saw was white all around us. The temperature dropped significantly and by the look on Carl’s face he was worried. He grabbed my hand and we started walking back to the house.  
Carl’s POV  
I asked Mattie to be my girlfriend finally, I’ve been thinking about doing it for the past few days but I wanted the moment to be perfect. I wasn’t expecting it to be after finding out her mom was sick but it happened. Then it started snowing and it made it even more perfect. At least I thought it was.  
In an instant, the temperature dropped and we couldn’t see anything. I grabbed her hand and we started to walk in the direction I believed the house was in. I was wrong. We started walking into the woods just to get partially out of the snow. Mattie had a tight grip around my hand as I tried my best to lead us to safety.  
“Carl, do you have any idea where were going?” Mattie asked me through chattering teeth.  
“No Mattie I don’t honestly. I’m trying to find somewhere we can hold up until it stops snowing.”  
“Okay.” I pulled Mattie closer to me so I can warm her up to the best of my ability.  
We continued to walk close together. Through the snow and the wind I heard a loud clack but I wasn’t sure what it was or where it came from. I’m not even sure Mattie heard it through her teeth chattering, I’m even surprised that I heard it. We need to find a place so she can warm up and fast.  
Through a small gap in the snow I could almost make out a small building. As we moved closer to it, I noticed it was a wooden shack. When I pointed it out to Mattie, we almost started to run towards it. If it wasn’t for all the wind and snow, we probably would have. Then finally we were standing in front of it.  
I pulled out my gun to get it ready just in case. Opening the door slowly to an open room with a couch, fireplace and a small kitchen. Apparently this wasn’t a shack but a small cabin. At least there’s plenty of wood by the fire place so we can have a fire to warm up and stay warm. The last thing we need is to freeze to death.  
“I’m going to go check the rest of the places, just relax for a minute.” I tell Mattie and I go about checking the rest of the cabin.  
The entire place is clear. I returned with fresh clothes, plenty of blankets and some canned food. Mattie was sitting on the couch still shaking from the cold. Putting everything down, I grabbed one of the blankets to wrap around her so she can warm up while I work on the fire.  
A few minutes later, the fire is blazing and the small cabin is heating up quick. I reach out my hand to help Mattie stand. We need to get out of these wet clothes. When the blanket fell of her shoulders and back onto the couch, I noticed a red spot on her lower shirt. I lifted up her shirt to reveal a small wound just above the scar on her hip.  
“Mattie, can you feel that?” I’m not even sure she heard me. Her eyes are heavy and she’s beginning to sway back and forth. I barely had enough time to catch her when her knees buckled and she collapsed. Laying her down on the ground, I examine her wound by candlelit. Turning her over, I noticed another wound on her back. At least it went straight through. Ripping up one of the shirts I found, I use it as a bandage because there’s nothing else around here.  
“Mattie, please wake up baby.” I cover her up and wrap my arms around her to keep her warm. This is going to be a long night.


	17. New York

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is in Mattie's point of view only and it's a flash back.

New York  
Mattie’s POV  
We’ve been driving constantly for about two days, well my mom has been driving. I keep telling her that she needs to teach me. but she doesn’t think it’s a good idea. She taught me how to defend myself, how to shoot a gun, but she won’t let me drive a damn truck. There’s times that she doesn’t make any sense what so ever. It’s times like these that she begins to drive me nuts.  
We’re on a highway and we keep seeing signs that say New York City. She’s telling me that we’re going to find a place to stay for the night to rest and then get back on the road tomorrow. We’re heading to Maine. They’ve claimed to have a safe zone there but knowing our luck, it’s probably like every other place we’ve encountered. Every single place is always the same, it’s fallen. Everything always falls.  
I came to a conclusion a while ago that the people that hide behind walls they become weak. They don’t know how to defend themselves against these things that are roaming around. They also don’t know how to defend themselves against the living. If you’re weak you will die, plain and simple. And there’s different forms of being weak.  
Weak minded is the worse weakness to have. If you’re weak minded then you can’t see the true nature of someone’s abilities until it’s too late. You can sit there and think to yourself that the people that’s around you make you feel safe, but the truth is, they’ll drop you the moment they realize how weak you truly are. We’ve seen it before and my mom and I know we’ll see it again. Every group we’ve encountered in the last four years have always turned out to be the same.  
The leader was too headstrong and power hungry. Everyone else relied on each other for support. Relying on others for support is naïve. You never rely on anyone but yourself in any situation because only you have the power to control the situation you’re in. If you’re with family, then you’ll do whatever it takes to make sure they live but at the end of the day, especially now, it’s all about you.  
“Mattie Lynn, did you hear me?”  
“What? Sorry mom no I didn’t.”  
“We’re staying at the house up ahead for the night.” I tell her okay and sit there quietly until we get there. The one thing I’ve learned to do, besides the basics, is to be quiet.  
Being quiet is a way of life now. If you’re loud for any reason, there’s a high possibility you could die. I hate being quiet though because that’s when I begin to lose focus on everything that matters. My mind gets clouded with random thoughts and then I can’t concentrate at all. It’s highly annoying at times especially during a life or death situation.  
“Mattie, will you focus? We’re here.”  
“Ya mom, sorry. I was just thinking. Let’s go.” I tell her as I open the door to hop out. It’s hot out, not as hot as the Georgia heat that I grew up with. This heat, I can actually tolerate. Mom told me that Georgia’s heat was more of a ridiculous dry heat that no matter what you did to cool off, you’ll still be sweating during and after it in a matter of seconds.  
“DJ, we’ll be right back baby.” I hear my mom say and we begin to walk up to the house. My mom checks to see if the door is unlocked before barging in, which it was luckily enough. She then bangs on the doorframe to see if any of them come out. We don’t hear anything, but that doesn’t always mean anything.  
“I’ll check upstairs.” I tell my mom. I begin to walk away but she grabs my wrist to turn me back around.  
“Mattie, we’ll do it together.  
“Mom, I’ll be perfectly fine. We can sweep this place faster if we split up. It’s not that big.” I say as I take my wrist back and turn back around to walk up the stairs.  
I check each of the bedrooms and they were completely clear which is always a plus, especially nowadays. Walking into the hall bathroom, I start checking cabinets. By the time I was done, I found an oversized first aid kit that was actually fully stocked and unopened. Whoever lived here before must’ve been accident prone or something because this thing is huge. I pick it up and carry it downstairs.  
“Hey mom, look what I found.” I said as she’s holding an unopened box of goldfish with a smile on her face. My mom’s fascination with goldfish is creepy sometimes. But not as bad as this one man's fascination with a damn Twinkie to the point he actually died trying to get one. I start laughing and shake my head.  
“Did you find anything else up there?”  
“Three bedrooms. Clothes, blankets, pillow, the usual stuff. You?”  
“Pretty much the same thing. Whoever lived here before must’ve just gone shopping because this place is pretty well stocked.” Or this is already someone place.  
I’m not very optimistic. I don’t see the glass as half empty or half full. Honestly, I see how everything can go from bad to worse in a matter of seconds and that’s what scares me sometimes. I still see the good in people though as long as I don’t get a bad vibe from them. Our dog Koda is the same way, he’ll let us know when he doesn’t trust someone which tells us to pack up and leave before shit hit’s the fan.  
“You hungry yet?” I shake my head no after she asked.  
“Okay, well I’m going to go get DJ and Koda real fast. When we get back in here, I’m going to feed him and then lay him down.”  
“Okay, mom.” I smile and walk into the kitchen to see what’s all in there.  
I open one of the cabinets and laugh when I see a full unopened box of Twinkie’s sitting on one of the shelves. Shaking my head, I close the cabinet and try to find something to do in this house. It’s always boring when you need to find something to do, but you have no idea what to do all at the same time. It’s annoying and confusing all at the same time. Before my mom came back inside, I grabbed one of my guns and hid it under the table as an extra precaution.   
A little bit later once DJ was done eating, he walked over to me and told me good night. Mom told Koda to come upstairs with her to lay DJ down. That’s the only way he’d sleep otherwise if Koda was laying right next to him. It’s almost like he’s his coping mechanism or teddy bear. It’s actually extremely cute when you see DJ curled up next to Koda under a bunch of blankets. Koda has a smug look on his face though like why are you people doing this to me. I’m too old for this crap.  
I sit down on the couch to take off my boots to get comfortable. Might as well since we’re staying here for the night. Once they were off, I closed my eyes to see if I could get a small cat nap in before my mom came back down here. It was cut short when my stomach decided to start yelling at me telling me it’s hungry as usual. Plus my mind has been on those Twinkie’s since I found them. I seriously sound like him now which isn’t good.  
I stand up and put my arms above my head to try to stretch. Being cramped in that car and then sitting on something else sometimes messes with my back. Once I was done, I walked into the kitchen and walked straight into a barrel of a gun. A lump in my throat formed as I met the gaze in the eyes of the man that was holding the gun.  
“You scream, I’ll kill you. Understand?” I nod and he grabs me from the back of the head and throws me down on the table on my stomach.  
“Roy, Billy. Get the rope and something to gag her with.” He whispered. I wanted to scream, I really did but I couldn’t. His hand was entangled in my hair while his other hand was feeling up and down my body. Then he pushed his hips into my backside and started to grind into them. I felt my eyes begin to water as he did that.  
My mom always told me that there’s two types of men in the world. One’s that take and one’s that earn. He’s the one that takes, I know it. The other two men walked back in as the upstairs door opened and closed.  
“Who’s here with you?” He said leaning close to my ear.  
“My mom and my brother.”  
“Well boys, you two will be lucky tonight after all. You two can fight over the mom. I’ll take this little thing.” He says reaching underneath me and grabbing my breast firmly.  
“Hey Mattie, you hungry now?” I hear my mom say but it was cut short when the other two men grabbed her. I could hear her hitting the ground and the other two men dragging her across the floor. The man that was holding me down, moved his hand down my stomach to the front of my jeans. This isn’t going to happen. I’m not going to let it happen.  
The next few moments were a blur. I remembered reaching under the table to get the gun that I had stashed there. I remember hearing every single one of the gun shots. I remember my mom coming up to me and trying to get the gun out of my hand. I even remember the blood.  
What I don’t remember is how I turned around to shoot the man that had me pinned down in the head. I don’t remember shooting the other two men that had my mom held down. I don’t remember my mom running up the stairs to get DJ and Koda. I don’t remember getting back into the truck and driving off. I just don’t remember and that’s what scares me.  
“Mattie, please wake up baby.” Then I heard his voice and it was over. The nightmare was over. He’s here with me and everything is better. Everything will always be better because I have him in my life. The boy that I love. He’s here and I’m lying in his arms, safe and warm like always. I’m finally safe.


	18. Project Wildfire

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is the second installment in Aaron's point of view. There will be three more chapters that will be in his point of view. Just remember this is based back at the very beginning of The Walking Dead series, specifically season 1 episodes 5 and 6. There's going to be dialect in this chapter that's from the Wildfire episode.

Project Wildfire  
Aaron’s POV  
My face is red and my blood is boiling when I realized who was standing in the center of the room. Pulse quickening with each passing second and I can hardly feel Izzie’s hand on my shoulder anymore. If I could, I’d jump up and head directly to him just to put my hands on him. Unfortunately though, my prosthetic is back at the house. Whit took it to make some adjustments for me and now I feel like a sitting duck.  
Out of all the times I wished I had my damn leg, it would be when I came face to face with the man that caused me to lose my leg in the first place. He said we were in the clear when we entered an Iranian landing space, but he was wrong. Our copter was shot out of the sky and out of the all the men that was in there, I was the only one that lived. I wanted to kill him then and I still want to kill him now.  
“Hello, Aaron.” He said as he walked towards Izzie and me.  
“Brett.” I said with my jaw tense.  
“I see that you’re still alive. How’s your leg?” Did he seriously just ask me this? I locked the wheelchair and stood up on one leg. Izzie rushed to my side to hold me up but I put a hand up. I stand a couple inches taller than Brett, but his gaze feels like razor blades. I can tell he doesn’t have any remorse for what happened.  
“Just fine, no thanks to you.” I say with a crooked smile.  
“You can’t still be mad at me for what happened. It could’ve happened to anyone Aaron.” I nod my head and pierce my lips together which makes my jaw tense. The truth of the matter is, it could’ve happened to anyone but at the same time, it happened to myself and my men. I’m not one that easily forgives and this grudge I’ve held against Brett for almost ten years has changed my outlook on life. Coming face to face with him is making all of those demons come back to life.  
“Ya, I guess it could have. Now you mind tellin’ me what the hell is goin’ on here?” With that, Brett’s demeanor completely changes. He tells me to sit back down so Izzie and I can follow him. We follow him towards a set of monitors and we see the man that was originally on the screen a few minutes ago working in a lab.  
We watch him for a while until a beaker tips over which lands on top of some type of sample. He tries to wipe it off with his gloved hand, but we soon find out that the glove is beginning to melt.  
“Alert Status. Air qualifiers indicate corrosive fumes.” The man removes his out glove and sees the inner one is also disintegrating as well. He rushes towards a set of doors.  
“All personnel must clear the room. Corrosive element is deemed poisonous if inhaled.” He hits a button and water sprays down on him. He turns around to get thoroughly wet. The door slides open and he goes through and then the door slides shut behind him. More water sprays from both sides as he take off the protective suite and all of his clothing, letting the water completely rinse him off.  
“All personnel clear. Full decontamination in effect.”  
“No!” We all heard him yell before he runs toward the door of the lab and sees flames bursting through it. Once it’s finished, the computerized voice tells us that the decontamination process is completed. The man thunks his head against the glass door.  
“Who the hell is this Brett?”  
“That’s Dr. Edwin Jenner. He’s the last member of the Center of Disease control center in Atlanta.” I look straight up at him and back at the monitor. How is that even possible? We watching Atlanta get bombed two months ago on our way to D.C.  
“Why’s he still even there?”  
“He’s there because he wants to be. He’s apparently trying to look for a cure but as you just saw, his last skin sample was ruined as well as the lab.” I’m listening to everything Brett is telling me, but I’m still not fully understanding the majority of all of this.  
“Why doesn’t someone go get him and bring him here then?”  
“Because we don’t want him here. He’s a liability.” I snort as a repercussion to what he just said. And here comes the asshole demeanor I’ve always known Brett Albright to have.  
“He’s a liability? He’s trying to find a fuckin’ cure and he’s a God damn liability? I’m a fuckin’ liability because I know exactly who you are Brett. I know what goes through your head every God damn second of every God damn day. Don’t you dare talk to me about fuckin’ liabilities!” I said all of that standing. By the time I was done yelling, I was out of breath. Izzie got me to sit back down.  
“I can see where you’re coming from Aaron. You are a liability because of everything that happened between us in the past. But right now, we all have a bigger threat to take care of. And that’s the damn infected that are right on the other side of those walls.” Brett says pointing towards where I’m guessing the entrance is to this so-called safe zone.  
I’m not even sure if I even want to believe that this place can even be a safe zone. Sure it has walls and people with military training behind it but at the same time, a place is only as strong as its leader. Brett Albright is strong physically but mentally, he’ll break when he gets threatened and has to make a quick decision. How he got chosen to become the Secretary of Defense, I’m still trying to figure out. In my own opinion, he’s never been fit to be any type of leader. He’s always been more brawn than brain.  
Izzie’s hand is once again placed on my shoulder when we Dr. Jenner come back on the screen. It’s apparent that he’s using the computer to make some sort of video diary almost. He’s wearing a plain t-shirt and he looks absolutely exhausted. I lean in a little closer when a glass catches my eyes, he’s drinking. This should be interesting.  
“The TS19 samples are gone. The tragedy of their loss cannot be overstated. They were our freshest samples by far. None of the other samples we gathered even came close. Those are necrotic, useless dead flesh.” We watch him sit down at the desk, looking directly at the monitor.  
“I don’t even know why I’m even talking to you.” He leans in.  
“I bet there isn’t a single son of a bitch out there still listening, is there? Is there?” That one struck me deep inside because we are listening. He sits in a dark room lit by a circle of overhead lights.  
“Fine. Saves me the embarrassment.” He stands up and puts his hands on his hips. “I think tomorrow I’m gonna blow my brains out. I haven’t decided. But tonight, I’m getting drunk.” We all watch him as he pours himself a drink. He says something else before he throws the wine bottle up into the air. The wine bottle shatters somewhere on the other side of the room. Once again he yells and raises his arms up to mimic a field goal.  
This has gone on far enough. He’s drunk and now he’s suicidal. There has got to be a way for us to contact him. If we can see and hear him, why can’t we just push a button and talk to him. Let him know that we have this place and someone will be there to rescue him.   
Izzie’s hand is on my shoulder as usual and she’s squeezing it, sort of hard. She’s tense and I know she’s exhausted. Putting both hands on the desk, I stand up once again, putting all my weight on my left leg. Looking down at Brett, I see him tense up and raise an eyebrow.  
“We need to do something.” I tell him and he gives me a crooked half smile.  
“And what do you suggest we do?”  
“Go get him. Bring him here. Everyone deserves to live.”  
“Your right but he doesn’t.” A lump in my throat forms when he said that. This man standing in front of me no longer has a soul.  
“Who the hell are you to decide who gets to live and who gets to die?”  
“I’m the leader of this place and I get to say who and cannot come in! If you have a fucking problem with that Aaron, you know where the front door is.” With that he turns around and starts walking away.  
“Brett! What the hell is project wildfire?” Izzie and I both watch him stop and then slowly turn around.  
“It’s what started this entire thing.” Then he turned around and continued to walk away. When I turned around, Izzie is standing there in complete shock. I place my hands on each hip to pull her closer to me but she’s barely budging. Placing my hand on her cheek, I get her to look up at me.  
“Izzie, are you okay?”  
“Ya, I’m just trying to comprehend what’s going on.” I was going to say something back to her but something on the monitor caught my eye. Jenner is looking at the screen again but not talking.  
“Is there a way we can change camera view to see what he’s seeing!?” I yell and someone comes over, pushes a few buttons then leaves again. That’s when we see a group of people standing outside. Twelve people, men, women and children. One man amongst the group stands out though. He has short hair, the sleeves on his shirt are gone and he has a crossbow strapped to his back. Then he comes closer to the camera and my heart nearly stopped.  
“Aaron, who is that?”  
“Daryl.”  
“Who’s Daryl?”  
“My brother in law.” I said looking up to Izzie. He’s alive but I don’t see the others. I need to get him.


	19. White Out Part 1

White Out Part 1  
Daryl’s POV  
Time seemed to stop after Carol hooked McKayla to the monitor to get her information. Not even five seconds later, the monitor started going off and Raymond was yelling to get me out of the room. Rick, Glenn, and Abe got me out of the room against my will as Raymond said clear and I saw paddles going towards McKayla’s chest. Rick practically has me in a headlock which isn’t the first time I’ve been in this position. He knows better than anyone that I don’t like being in this position at all, but I know he’s doing it so they can get me out of there.  
Now I’m sitting on the stairs with my elbows on my knees and my head in my hands waiting, just waiting. My entire body feels numb right now and the last time I felt like this was when McKayla was being rushed back for an emergency caesarean with our first child. Time seemed to stop even then and I felt useless then just like I feel useless now. I’m praying for McKayla to be alright, which isn’t something I’ve really ever done or even know how to do it. The last time I did it, it seemed to work so maybe I did it right then.  
“Hey, you alright?” Rick says after he places a hand on my shoulder. I jumped when he did that which isn’t something I’ve ever done. My mind isn’t focusing at all and I didn’t hear him come up behind me.  
“I…I don’t...I don’t know.” Rick sat next to me on the stairs. We sat there in silence until we both heard the door to the infirmary open. I stand up first, Rick was quick to follow and my heart dropped. I see Carol and Raymond both walking out with straight faces.  
“If yer comin’ out here to tell me she’s gone, jus’ get it over with.” I tell them both.  
“Daryl, she’s still alive, but she’s currently in a medically induced coma. For some reason, she went into cardiac arrest. She stopped breathing in the process so she has a tube down her throat. Without the proper equipment, I won’t know how to help her anymore than I already have.” Raymond tells me.  
“What kind of equipment you need? I’ll go get it.”  
“Daryl, it’s not like that. I need heavy duty machines. Not something that you can just throw in the back of a pickup truck. I’m sorry but for right now, we’ll just have to wait.” As soon as he said that, I ended up punching a wall. Rick grabbed me and pulled me into a brotherly hug.  
“You can go in and see her though.” Carol tells me and I nod.  
I followed Carol into the infirmary where McKayla was at, partially aware of what I’d see. Raymond told me that she had a tube down her throat. My entire body is shaking from everything that’s happened today. Carol stopped me before we went into the room to remind me of everything once again. I nodded and she opened the door.  
Standing there in the doorway, McKayla is lying flat on her back, with a tube down her throat. Another tube coming out of her forearm that led to a bag of clear liquid. My entire body started to feel like it could collapse at any minute. There were a few other wires that were on her body that led to a monitor that had numbers and lines all over the screen.  
“Daryl, go sit next to her. She can hear you and feel you. I’ll leave you two alone.” She moves passed me and closes the door as she exits the room.  
Taking a deep breath, I grab a chair and put it next to McKayla’s bed. Sitting down in it, I gently grab her hand and rub the top of it with my thumb. Her skin is soft as I continue to rub it. I don’t know what to say to her. Half the time I never know what to say. Then it hits me.  
“McKayla, if you want to go, you can. I’ll understand and someway somehow the kids will understand. I’ll be okay. We’ll be okay. I think we found each other so we could say goodbye. I love you and I always will. I will never find anyone like you.” I put my head down on the bed and begin to cry.  
I hate crying, it makes me feel weak but right now, I don’t care. I feel like I’m losing the part of me that only a few weeks ago, I didn’t even know existed anymore. Watching her walk back into my life, I thought she was an angel. I’d be willing to die to take her place so she can be with our kids, but I know she wouldn’t let me.  
Finally, I took a deep breath to compose myself. Standing up, I lean forward and kiss her on the forehead, her cheek and finally her lips. I run my fingers through my hair and start making my way to the door to leave the infirmary. I know I shouldn’t leave, but I feel useless right now.  
“Guys, we have a problem!” I hear Rick yell as I walk down the hallway towards the main entrance of the house. When I got to everyone, they were all looking out the living room window. It was a complete white out. You could barely see anything outside. I scanned the room and noticed Mattie wasn’t here. I walked to Rick and pulled him away.  
“Rick, have you seen Mattie?”  
“No, why?”  
“Mattie and McKayla had a little argument. Carl went after her. If neither of them are in here that means…”  
“They’re out there. Oh God.” Rick says. Everyone was standing in the living room staring at each other, no knowing what to do. Then the front door swings open and a gust of wind and snow blows through the entire house.  
“Sorry about that guys.” Christie says as she tries to shut the door. Raymond and Abraham run over to her to help close the door.  
“What’s the verdict, Christie?” Rick asks.  
“The turbines down. With the amount of wind, I had to shut it off and lock it. If a single bolt were to break, it could send that thing flying and I can’t imagine where it could land.” We all knew what she was meaning by that. It could fly off and come crashing down onto the house. Raymond grabs Christie to pull her by the fire so she could warm back up.  
“Glenn, how many batteries do we have?” Rick says as he pinches the bridge of his nose and puts a hand on his hip.   
“Thirty plus the two high-end batteries.” Since we found this place a month ago, we’ve been stocking up on batteries and charging them with the turbine.  
“Put one of the high-end generators in the infirmary for McKayla. Her machine needs to stay on at all costs. Christie, when you get warmed up can you wire the infirmary up so it’s accessing only that generator?” Christie nods her answer.  
“Tenemos que encontrar una manera de barricada en las ventanas.” We hear Senor Jimenez say sitting in his wheelchair by the fire.  
“Christie, what did he say?” Rick asks her.  
“We need to barricade the windows.” Rick asks her why.  
“Por que necesitamos una barricada las ventanas, Papa?”  
“Las ventanas que rompen con la fuerza del viento es.” Then Christie proceeded to tell us that the windows will shatter because of how strong the wind is.  
Someone said there’s plywood in the basement. Rick told everyone to start bringing the plywood up to cover the windows. I continued to stand there though next to Rick.  
“Rick, what about Mattie and Carl?”  
“We’ll look for them when the blizzard stops. Right now, we need to make this place more secure for our family. We’ll find them Daryl.” Rick puts his hand on my shoulder and walks away to start placing plywood on windows.  
Instead of helping everyone, I went into the infirmary to be with McKayla. When I walked in there, Raymond was standing next to her and writing something on a piece of paper. I sat down in a chair that was moved against the wall to wait for Raymond to finish.  
“Daryl, can I ask you some questions about McKayla?” Raymond asks me as he finishes up and takes a seat next to me.  
“Um, sure.”  
“Do you know what could have made her collapse?” I nodded with a faint smile because the truth is, only a few of us know what’s wrong with McKayla and for some reason, we never decided to tell Raymond which was the actual Doctor in the group.  
“McKayla’s mom was diagnosed with ALS when McKayla was sixteen. McKayla started getting symptoms a few months ago.” I heard Raymond take in a deep breath.  
“Is she certain that’s what she has or she just guessing?”  
“What else could it be? All the damn signs are there.”  
“Were you around when her mom got diagnosed?” I didn’t speak my response, I just nodded. Once again Raymond took a deep breath before patting me on the shoulder.  
We sat there in silence for a minute before he told me that he’s going to take her off the ventilator because she’s beginning to breath on her own again. I sat there and watched him take the tube out. For a minute it reminded me when we took her mom off the machine because there was nothing we could do for her anymore. Then I saw McKayla’s chest begin to rise and fall. I just wish her eyes would open.


	20. White Out Part 2

White Out Part 2  
Carl’s POV  
Some say your life flashes before your eyes when you’re on the brink of dying. The moment that Mattie collapsed, it felt like I was dying because there’s no life that I want to live without her standing by my side. Flashes of memories of us two together over the past few weeks is the only thing I’m seeing. From the moment, our eyes met to our first kiss then to the moment her eyes closed a few minutes ago. That’s the only thing I’ve been seeing.  
I made a makeshift bandage out of a shirt I found to try to stop the bleeding, but it’s not working. She’s bleeding faster than I can even control it. I start ransacking the entire cabin we’re in to find anything that I might need. I don’t think she has internal bleeding because I don’t see any bruising on her stomach. Thankfully enough, I’ve been paying attention to when we had injuries since being with Raymond. He’s taught me a few things, but that still might not be enough to save Mattie’s life.  
In this world, it really is a matter of life or death. Anything can go wrong in a matter of seconds. A herd can come through and wipe us out. A group of people with some type of power trip can take us out as well. Infection, sickness, anything can happen at any moment. It’s just how you handle the situation is what matters.  
Running back into the bathroom, I look through the cabinets for the hundredth time in probably five minutes. Still, I don’t find anything that will help me. I’m not even sure what I’m actually looking for anymore. It’s not like I’m going to open a cabinet and find a magical cure for everything, that’s just wishful thinking. Slamming the medicine cabinet door, the glass shatters and falls into the sink. Shards of glass scatters everywhere, but I don’t care enough to clean it up. Walking out of the bathroom, I trip over the rug in the hallway which nearly causes me to fall. I was able to catch my balance in time before my face met the wall. That could’ve been an entirely different disaster if I were to knock myself out.  
Turning back around to see the rug I tripped on, a circular object caught my eye. Moving closer, I noticed it’s a hatch to a door. Grabbing the hatch, I try to open it but it’s locked. Most of the time, I’d be able to unlock it myself, but I left my kit back at camp. The one time I actually need it, I don’t have it on me. Just my luck. At the same time, I’m not even sure what’s down there.  
Then I remembered seeing tools in the closet near the back door to the cabin. There’s bound to be something in there that I can use to open this hatch. Well to break this hatch so I can open it to see what’s inside. Investigating what’s down there, might not be a good idea but right now, I don’t care. There could be supplies down there. Walking to the closet that has the tools, I open the door and grab the tool box. Setting it on the table, I start going through it. Common tools, hammer, screwdrivers, flatheads, wrenches, the usual you’d find in a tool box. Grabbing the hammer and a few flatheads, I walk back over to the hatch to try my luck at opening it. Which I successfully accomplished with ease.  
Now I’m faced with another dilemma, darkness. I don’t see a switch and I don’t even have a flashlight. I found candles in a drawer though which will help but only in a short distance. What I’d do for an actual right now probably wouldn’t be sane or safe. Lighting a candle, I make my way down the steps slowly. As my feet touch the floor at the end of the steps, I looked around and saw boxes in the short distance that I was able to see. Looking around more, I see a cord hanging from the ceiling. I hesitated pulling the cord for a minute before grabbing a hold of it. Taking a deep breath, I pull the cord and the entire place lights up. I stood there for a minute when the lights came on, nearly mesmerized by what I’m looking at.  
This is the definition of a fallout shelter. Whoever lived here or lives here prepared themselves for an apocalypse. The entire place is filled with boxes and crates of food, clothing, ammunition, medical supplies, amongst other things. Right now, my main focus is on the medical supplies. I need it for Mattie, but I’m not sure where to even begin right now.  
Rummaging through one crate that has a plus sign in the center of a circle, I find gauze pads, hydrogen peroxide, surgical tape, even a suture kit which I have no idea how to even use. Finding a bag to put everything in, I stock up on anything I might need. Food, water and a change of clothes for the both of us. I had to guess on her size for a few articles of clothing for her though. Hopefully, I didn’t do too bad.  
“Drop th’ bag.” I heard someone with a very thick accent from somewhere, said behind me. I took a deep breath and slowly put the bag down on the ground.  
“Now, put yer hands up an’ turn around slowly.” Putting both of my hands above my head, like I was asked, I turn around to see a man with white hair pulled back and a rifle in his hand pointing right at me. For a minute, I thought the man was Hershel, but then I remembered his voice.  
“Now, explain th’ me whit in the bloody hell yer doin’ here.”  
“My girlfriend and I had to find shelter because of the blizzard.” I say after I took a deep breath.  
“Where is she?”  
“She’s upstairs. She got shot, that’s why I was putting stuff in the bag. Its medical supplies, food, and clothing. That’s it. I swear. We didn’t know this place was being used.” At this moment, my heart is beating out of his chest. Usually, I’d take action and fight but I have Mattie upstairs and I’d rather not get myself killed.  
“Show me.” I take another deep breath and walk in front of him up the stairs. Walking down the hallway, I can already see Mattie, laying on the floor in front of the fire. The man didn’t even wait for me, he walked over to her, kneeled down beside her. I watched him lift up the blood soaked shirt revealing her wound. Shaking his head, he stands back up and walks towards me.  
By this time, I have my hands down to my sides. For a moment, I thought he was just going to walk straight passed me but he stops a foot away from me. He’s looking down slightly, shaking his head while piercing his lips together.  
“Yer certain it was a bullet wound?” I shake my head yes. He nods and walks downstairs. A minute later, he comes back up with the bag full of the stuff I got and another bag. I watch him walk back over to her and kneeling down once again beside her.  
“How long has she been asleep?”  
“A couple hours I think. I don’t have a watch.” He nods and continues his exam on her.  
“Come over here boy.” I walk over to him and kneel down beside him.  
“I need ya to hold her still. I’m giving her shot for th’ pain but when I stick the needle in here to close her up, she’ll start thrashing.” I nod and stand up to walk to the other side of her. This might not be what he asked completely but I lift her up slightly to get underneath her. Mattie’s now between my legs and her head is up against my chest.  
The man nods and starts going through the other bag he brought up. He pulls out three different small glass bottles with metal around the top and syringes. He went into the bag that I put stuff in and pulled out the medical supplies I put in there. I watched him open a package of gloves and put a pair on. Picking up one of the bottles and syringes, he pokes the needle in and draws fluid out of the bottle.  
“Keep her still.” He says as he puts the needle into her arm. Wrapping my arms tightly around her upper torso, I could feel her jolt slightly in my arms but it was only for a second.  
“Alright, lay her back down and put a pair of gloves on will ya.” I do as he said but I was a little confused.  
“Do you know how to do sutures?” I shake my head no and he nods his own response. I watch him clean the wound before taking a needle to begin stitching Mattie up. Once he was done, he slowly pushed her over to do the other side. Putting my hand on her hip and the other one on her shoulder, I try to keep her still so the man could finish stitching her up. A few minutes later, he rips open a package of the gauze and places one on each wound before wrapping her bottom torso with a long roll of gauze to keep it in place. He grabs a couple pillows off the couch and puts them behind her to keep her in place before standing up to throw away everything.  
I wait a minute before standing up to confront the man, unaware of what exactly I might say. I need some sort of answers but I have no idea where to even begin. He’s currently using the sink to wash his hands which he’s been doing for a minute now. It’s obvious that he’s a doctor based on everything he’s doing.  
“Are ya goin’ to keep staring or are you goin’ to ask me questions?”  
“Sorry, it’s been a while since I’ve met someone so friendly.”  
“Looks can be deceiving young man.” He says looking in my direction with a raised eye brow. Taking a deep breath, I grab a chair from the table and sit down. A few seconds later, he does the same thing. We both sat there in silence for a minute before I decided to say something.  
“Who are you?” I asked him. The man looks up at me and smiles before sitting back in his chair.  
“I’m Doctor Johnathon Whitaker. Who might you two be?”  
“Carl Grimes. That’s Mattie Dixon.” The man’s face went straight right after I said Mattie’s name. A couple seconds later he starts laughing almost hysterically.  
“Sir, why exactly are you laughing?” He calms down and takes a deep breath while nodding with a smile stretched across his face.  
“She wouldn’t happen to be the daughter of Daryl and McKayla Dixon is she?” My heart nearly stopped when he said that. How in the hell would he know either of those names.  
“Why?” I watch him reach into his pocket and he pulls out a photo. I couldn’t believe my eyes. It was a picture of Daryl, McKayla, Mattie and another man standing next to them. This can’t be happening.


	21. Awake

Awake  
McKayla’s POV  
My head feels cloudy, but it’s throbbing at the same time. My entire body hurts from head to toe. I could feel someone’s hand linked in with mine and another one on my forearm. I can also hear someone breathing closely by my side, their warm breath on my arm. The only person I can think of right now that would do that would be Daryl.  
Opening my eyes slowly, all I see is a faint light coming from the corner of the room. I could hear the sound of beeping to my right and I turned my head slightly to see where it’s coming from. I stopped though when I realized that Daryl is the one sleeping next to me, but it’s only his head resting on the bed. Continuing on with trying to figure out where I am, my eyes look at the monitor. That’s when I figured it out completely. I’m in the infirmary, well more like the makeshift infirmary they made.  
I knew we had a few monitors because of Maggie and the baby, but I never thought that I’d be in the position I’m currently in now. I’m hooked up to the monitor that’s beeping. I’m lying on a hospital bed with wires and tubes coming out of me. Daryl is sound asleep next to me and he hasn’t even noticed that I’m awake yet.  
Reaching up my left hand, I make my way to him and run my fingers through his hair. A minute later, he jumps slowly up with his eyes wide and stares at me. He looks exhausted but still as handsome as the day I met him so many years ago. Many things have changed with the way Daryl looks though compared to before. His hair is longer than I’ve ever seen it before, but it’s something that I’ve gotten used to after being separated for the past four years.  
“McKayla?” I nod with a smile stretched across my face.   
Next thing I know, his hand is on my cheek and his lips are crashing down on mine. My hand is still in his hair just to pull him closer towards me. Then just as quick as he realized I was actually awake, he jumps back and runs his own fingers through his hair. I tried my hardest to sit up more in bed, but my arms are too weak. Daryl walks back over to me and helps me sit up before taking a seat on the side of the bed. His hand is back on my cheek and his using his thumb to rub the tears that I didn’t even realize until now that were falling.  
“Don’t ever do that to me again woman.” I smiled and our lips crashed against each other’s again.  
“I’ll try not to.” I say pulling away for a moment to look him in his deep blue eyes with a smile across my face. Taking a deep breath, I pull him closer towards me and wrap my arms around his neck. I could feel his warm breath on my neck before his lips started kissing the exposed skin softly. His hands started moving up my thigh to my side before he caressed my face just before he started to kiss me once again. I could tell just how much he missed me through our kiss. It was full of hunger and need. It was a completely different kiss from when we found each other back at that store a few weeks ago. This kiss was fueled with the utmost passion that made me want more, but I stopped us.  
“Daryl, where’s Mattie?” I asked pulling away. His eyes shifted from mine and his face went straight. Something happened while I was unconscious. My heart nearly stopped when his eyes met mine again. In that moment, I’m starting to wish I didn’t wake up.   
Carl’s POV  
The picture that I’m currently holding has struck a nerve deep down inside of me that I didn’t even know existed. It’s a combination of fury, rage, and absolute confusion. The amount of questions I have for this man that’s sitting a couple feet away from me right now is endless. The amount of pain Mattie is going to be in whenever she decides to wake up and see’s this picture is a completely different story. I don’t even want to think about what Mattie would even think or do when she sees this picture that I’m holding.  
I take a closer look at the photo and Mattie looks like she could possibly be eight maybe nine years old. McKayla and Daryl look pretty much the same minus the fact that Daryl has his short hair like when I first met him. McKayla did look slightly younger just based from her not looking as exhausted like she is now. The man behind them, on the other hand, looks older than the both of them but looks a little like McKayla at the same time.  
“Who’s this other man in the picture?” I finally ask.  
“That would be our group’s leader. Aaron Forbes.” I nod through pierced lips without making any eye contact.  
“And who would that be to Mattie?”  
“That would be her Uncle, her mother’s brother. Well, half-brother.” Well, that explains the similarities between McKayla and him.  
I place my fingers on my forehead and start rubbing it. All of a sudden my head started pounding and I started to realize it could be from this new found information or the fact that I haven’t had anything to eat in a while. Taking a deep breath I look up and the man is leaning back in his chair with his arms crossed in front of his chest.  
“What are you doing here if you belong to a group?”  
“Ah, I was waiting for you to ask that question. This is our safe house and storage facility. We use this just in case our town gets overrun and we need a place to bunker down with plenty of supplies.”  
“Okay, but that still doesn’t explain why you’re here.”  
“I was doing inventory of supplies when the blizzard came in. The team that brought me here is most likely caught in that storm just like you were.” We sat there in silence for a while after that until I heard coughing coming from behind me. Standing up, I quickly walk over to Mattie to see her squinting her eyes shut in pain and holding her side as well.  
“Mattie, I’m here. It’s alright.” Mattie’s eyes opened and looked directly at me.  
“Where are we?”  
“We’re in a cabin. We’re safe.”  
“Who is that?” She said looking around at the man that’s sitting at the table. I glance in his direction, but he’s avoiding eye contact. My heart is nearly pounding out of my chest. This is going to be interesting.  
Daryl’s POV  
McKayla is awake and I couldn’t be happier with that. At the same time, all I feel is guilt because our daughter is missing along with Rick’s son Carl. I was hoping and praying that they would be back by the time she woke up, but that was wishful thinking. No matter how much you pray, another curve ball gets thrown our way. This blizzard has been one part of the puzzle that’s not going to solve itself easy.  
I know McKayla wants an answer from me but I’m not even sure how to answer it. Do I say she’s just gone? Those words that just came to my mind struck a nerve once again. I once said those same words to Rick which seemed like forever ago. Those same words I told him when I found him and he asked me where Beth was.  
“Daryl, where the hell is our daughter?”  
“Carl went after her. When I came back inside, you were lying on the floor. Then a blizzard came through. There’s no way any of us can even go out there to look for either of them right now.” McKayla’s hands flew over her mouth when I said that as she started crying. Wrapping my arms around her as tight as I possibly could without hurting her, she started crying uncontrollably. I just let her cry though, I realized that there’s really nothing wrong with crying but it was cut short when we both heard a knock on the door.  
“I thought I heard another voice in here.” Raymond said as he slowly opened the door to the room.  
“Sorry if I’m interrupting but I was just about to check on you anyways. Then I heard two voices and well now I know why. How are you feeling McKayla?”  
“I have headache from hell and a little sore everywhere but other than that, I think I’ll manage.” McKayla answers him quickly.  
“That’s good. Your husband here has been worried since yesterday. It probably doesn’t help that Mattie and Carl are missing from the storm.” I looked up at McKayla which was looking down with her lips drawn into her mouth. It’s the type of thing she does when she doesn’t want to burst into tears. I pray that they’re both okay and that they found somewhere safe and warm until we can find them. There’s no way either of us can handle losing another child, especially not in this world.  
Raymond continues to check McKayla out which give me the que to leave and get McKayla some food. I know Raymond wanted to remove McKayla’s catheter and I’d rather not stay in the room for that. Not really sure if McKayla wanted me to stay or not either. When I returned with some fruit on a tray, McKayla’s face lit up the room.  
“Have I told you lately how much I love you Daryl?” I smile and lean forward to kiss her on the lips before taking a cherry and popping it in my mouth. She smiles when I do that.  
“Yes but I always enjoy hearing it.” We both smile at each other before I stole another cherry from her tray. Piercing her lips together she leans forward slightly before quickly grabbing the back of my neck and pulling me towards her. Without looking, I grab the tray and place it on the chair next to the bed before climbing more on it. No need to waste food.  
“You are gonna miss me so bad when I’m gone Daryl.” I looked at her instantly with wide eyes. Did she really just say that?  
Mattie’s POV  
I woke up to the sound of voices chatting quietly a few feet away from me. I recognized one of them as Carl’s but the other one, wasn’t familiar at all. He’s an older man and he has a thick accent from where I’m guessing is from Europe. I’m just not sure from where exactly. As I continued to listen, I started to feel pain in my side which began to make me cough for some reason. I heard footsteps walking quickly towards me.   
“Mattie, I’m here. It’s alright.” He said which made me open my eyes, Carl was staring down at me with his blue eyes. It doesn’t look like he’s slept at all though. They’re blood shot and the bags under his eyes explains a lot more. It’s apparent that he hasn’t slept.  
“Where are we?”  
“We’re in a cabin. We’re safe.” That’s when I finally saw the other man sitting at the table. He’s old, probably in his sixties by the look of it. His white hair is pulled back in a hair tie.  
“Who’s that?” I ask him.  
“That’s Johnathon Whitaker. He’s a doctor. He stitched you up.” I squinted my eyes. The pain I was feeling on my side is most likely what he’s talking about.  
“What happened?”  
“I’m not sure. I think you were shot but it went straight through.” Well that’s a plus. I tried sitting up but Carl hands quickly held onto me.  
“Take it easy.”  
“Carl I want to sit up.” He nods and shifts more to my side. Putting one of his arms under my knees and the other looped under my arm to my back, he picks me up with ease. I must’ve never realized how strong Carl really is, which made me smile. The amount of pain I’m in made my eyes automatically start to water.  
“I’m sitting you doing on the couch. I’ll help you get…”  
“There’s a bedroom you two can have back there.” Johnathon said cutting Carl off. He looked down at me and I nodded.  
With me in his arms still, he carries me to the bedroom and lays me down on the bed. He disappears for a couple minutes but returns with extra pillows and blankets. There’s no heat source in the bedroom like there is in the living room. He puts a couple pillows behind me to help me sit up before putting a blanket over me. Then he handed me a couple pills and water which I took.  
“Are you still cold?” He asked me which I nodded. I was half expecting him to get more blankets but he walked to the other side of the bed. He climbed onto the bed and pulled me into his arms to warm me up which worked quickly.  
“I love you Carl.”  
“I love you too Mattie.” He kissed me on my neck and I drifted back to sleep.


	22. Everything Has Changed

Everything Has Changed  
Aaron’s POV  
I’ve been trying to comprehend what I saw on the screen for the past couple hours. Izzie got me out of there and we both started our way back to the house we’re staying in. Flan and Mathey are sitting in chairs on the front porch with a bottle in their possession. Once I got close enough to the railing, I grabbed it and stood up. That’s when they both realized we were back.  
Flan walked down the steps and grabbed my arm to help me up the stairs. The one thing they all understand that once you’re a soldier, you’re always a soldier even if a part of you is missing. They’ve been helping me out as much as I’ll let them the past couple months. Whether it to help me walk since my cane snapped in half at the very beginning. We’ve even stopped a couple times because of the amount of pain I was in but not once did they ever say I was slowing them down.  
“Where were you two?” Mathey asked me as he took another swig from the bottle.  
“We were talking to an old cobber of Aaron’s.” Izzie told them. Even after being together for two months, I’m still getting used to certain words Izzie says.  
“You know someone here?”  
“Ya, you can say that.” I say making my way to a chair on the front porch. Mathey hands me a bottle and I take it willingly. Taking a quick smell of what’s inside before taking a big swig and swallowing it harshly, I realized it was rum.  
“Woah, that’s some good shit.” I say and everyone starts to laugh.  
“How’d you guys get these?”  
“We were walking around and there’s a store filled with supplies. Mathey talked to one of the women inside and next thing I knew, he walked out with four bottles of this stuff.” Flan said and I raised my bottle to Mathey before taking another swig of the rum. Everyone else followed my lead as well.  
We continued to sit outside for a while, unaware on what time it was until someone said for us to get inside. Apparently there’s a curfew in this safe zone that we weren’t aware of. Izzie grabbed my hand to help me stand back up. When I stood up though, I was a little dizzy most likely due to the fact of the booze and the lack of food in my stomach.  
“How about we eat? A few older women dropped off some food earlier and it’s in the fridge with cooking instruction.” Flan said which immediately made my stomach growl. I haven’t had a hot meal in so long and it’s making me even hungrier by the second.  
Izzie runs down the stairs quickly to get my chair while I lean up against the post on the front porch. I sit down in the chair once she brings it back up and I wheel myself inside, but Izzie starts pushing me.  
“You know I can wheel myself inside, right?”  
“I know, maybe I just like doing it.” She says after leaning down to whisper it into my ear. I shake my head and tilt my head up to give her a quick smile.  
“Alright love birds, what ya want for dinner? We got lasagna, lasagna, lasagna and more lasagna.” Flan said.  
“How about lasagna?” I say which made us all start laughing again. He took one of the lasagnas out of the fridge and put it in the oven to heat it up.  
“I’m gonna go get cleaned up.” I told them.  
“I put your stuff in the downstairs bedroom. I figured that it would be easier for you to access.” Flan said and I nodded as I started wheeling myself towards the bedroom he was talking about.  
Once I got in there, I shut the door behind me and realized that I have my own bathroom as well. Locking the wheels to the chair, I stand up and hop into the bathroom. Flipping on the light, knowing we have electricity, I move to the mirror. This is the first time I’ve seen myself in two months.  
I look rough and exhausted. The bags under my eyes are huge and it’s apparent that sleep will be in my near future. The amount of facial hair that I’ve grown in the past two months is ridiculous. I’ve never had it this long and I’m not sure how I feel about it all. That’s when I make the decision to shave it off.  
Looking in the cabinets, I come across shaving cream and a razor. I guess I’m lucky for finding it that easily but at the same time, they’ve been using this house before they move people into a more permanent location from what that guy said when we got here. Taking my shirt off first, I squeeze some of the shaving cream into my hand before I start shaving.  
Once I was done, I took a look in the mirror and I look semi normal again. I hear a knock on the bedroom door which makes me hop to the entrance. That’s when I see Izzie standing there with an arm full of clothes. She standing there looking at me with wide eyes.  
“Wow, I haven’t seen you with a clean face since I first met you.”  
“I know. I wasn’t sure how to feel about the beard.”  
“You look better like this. Younger.” I chuckle a little bit.  
“What is it with you and my age?” I ask as I make my way to the bed to sit down. She walks over and takes a seat next to me.  
“Nothing. I just like calling you old. Your face amuses me.” She says smiling at me before biting the corner of her bottom lip. Reaching behind me, I grab my bag and start rummaging through it before pulling out a plastic cover.  
“What is that?”  
“It’s a shower cover for my prosthetic. It’s kind of hard taking a shower with only one leg.” I tell her grabbing my prosthetic and putting the cover on it.  
“You know I could help you out with taking a shower, Aaron.”  
“What are you going to do, give me a sponge bath?”  
“No, I was thinking about taking a shower with you.” I lump in my throat formed when she said that. I tried to swallow it away, but she shifted on the bed. Next thing I knew she straddled me and wrapped her arms around my neck.  
“Izzie, you don’t have to help me. I can manage on my own.”  
“I know you can Aaron. But I also want you.” Then her lips were on mine and my hands moved up her thighs to her back. Using some of the strength I have, I shift so I’m on top of her on the bed. Grabbing her hands and pinning them above her head, I start kissing down her jaw to her neck. She wraps her legs around my hips as my free hands skim over the side of her body to take off her shirt.  
Her skin is smooth and slightly warm to the touch. I can see her hip bones just above her jeans which makes me grind into her as she starts to moan quietly. With her shirt now fully off, giving me a clear view of her perky breasts that was barely hidden by her black bra. I shift down to lick and nip at the exposed skin above her bra. Letting go of her hands, I move my hand underneath her to undo her bra which she helped me out by arching her back slightly.  
Once it was off and completely out of the way, I take her nipple into my mouth to tease it slightly. She’s digging her fingers into my upper back as I’m doing this; which makes me tease her even more. Using my other hand to do the same thing to her other breast. She’s moaning louder and I’m starting to worry if the guys can hear us but apparently she doesn’t care. Climbing off of her, I quickly strap my leg back on before standing up and walking into the bathroom.  
Turning the faucet on, the water starts to cascade quickly to the bottom of the tub. Izzie walked up behind me and pressed her chest to my back before running her hands slowly down my chest and stomach. Her hands kept going down to unbuckle my belt and unbutton my jeans to have them fall to the floor. Her hands disappear from my hips and when I turn around she’s undoing her pants. I watch her take off her clothes slowly before moving passed me and into the shower.  
Clearing my throat to try to remove the lump that formed just a few seconds ago, I turn around to see her under the faucet. Water is cascading down her body and her hair is already soaked by the time I stepped in. She bit the middle part of her lip as I wrapped my arms around her waist to pull her towards me. As she starts moving her hands up and down my torso, I reach around her and grab her ass before lifting her up in the air.  
“Aaron, are you sure you should be lifting me?” She asks and I understand why she would ask that.  
“Baby, this isn’t my first rodeo.” I said which made her laugh and tighten her legs around my waist.  
“Someone’s getting anxious I see.”  
“Maybe I’m tired of waiting for you.” She says before sliding her hand down my chest and in between us to take me firmly in her hand.   
I was half hard before she pulled me into her grasp and using the water that’s cascading over our bodies to help her glide her hand over my shaft. Burying my head in her chest, she tightens her grip a little more and pumping me faster in the process. Removing one of my hands from behind her, I grab her hand to still her for a moment which resulted in her letting go of me completely.  
“You sure about this Izzie?” I ask her and she nods. With my hand still in between us, I grip myself to find her entrance which I find quickly. Izzie’s beginning to breathe harder as I tease her slightly with the head of my swollen member. With her back pressed up against the shower wall, I find her entrance and slowly sink into her. I wait a minute so she can get used to my size.  
“You all good?” I ask her which makes her smile.  
“Ya, I’m good. It’s just been a while.” She says as I watch her chest rise and fall quickly with each breath. That’s when I started feeling my prosthetic leg slip a little bit on the slick shower floor.  
“I’m starting to rethink our current position.” I tell her and she raises an eyebrow at me. It took her a moment to understand what I was meaning.  
“How about we quickly finish up in here and finish in the bedroom?” She says and I smile while nodding.  
I slowly remove myself from her heated core and lower her down to the shower floor. She kept going though, straight down to her knees. Once again she grips me tightly before wrapping her mouth around my member. Putting my hands up against the wall to the shower to steady myself, she pushes me deeper into her throat. I made myself jerk inside of her mouth and I could feel her smile as she continued to suck me.  
“Izzie, you keep doing that, this is going to end quickly.” I tell her and she stands up. Wrapping her arms around my neck, she pulls me towards her and our lips lock. I can’t wait any longer and I don’t think she can either.  
Shutting the water off quickly, we both step out of the shower and stumble into the bedroom. She lays down on the bed first and I lay down next to her. I watch her sit up and spreads my legs apart before reaching for my right leg that has the prosthetic on it. Grabbing her hand, she looks up at me.  
“Aaron, I don’t care that you don’t have part of your leg. I never have. Just let me take it off.” I take a deep breath and nod before letting go over hand. She takes the prosthetic off and lays it on the floor next to the bed. That’s when she proceeded to straddle me. Looking up at her, she grabs my hands and places them on her breasts. Her breasts fit perfectly in my hands and they’re firm. She sits up slightly to grab my member and guides it into her entrance. Once again I’m deep inside of her but she doesn’t wait to get used to my size.  
She starts rocking her hips back and forth on me with ease and confidence. I remove my hands from her breasts to grab her waist before bending my left leg so I can show her just how bad I want her. Falling forward on top of me and using her hands to keep herself up, I start moving quickly in and out of her. She starts moaning loudly as I continue doing so, that’s when I took the opportunity to flip her over so I’m on top.  
Wrapping her legs around my waist, I thrust deep inside of her quick and hard. Her hands move to my back and she starts digging her nails into my back. I start to feel myself getting close as she finds hers. She shatters underneath me just moments before I find mine. I let go deep inside of her and in that moment, I realized that might’ve not been the best idea but she doesn’t seem to mind at all. I pulled out of her and laid down beside her. She shifted so she could lay her head on my chest. Apparently we won’t be joining the guys for a while.


	23. Panic

Panic  
Daryl’s POV  
At some point last night, I climbed up into McKayla’s bed to hold her, completely aware of all the tubes that are coming out of her. She nuzzled her head onto my chest and slept peacefully all night. With how small this bed is, it reminds me of the bed I had when we first met. Even then, she slept just like this with my arms wrapped around her tightly. I never wanted to let her go then and I don’t want to now.  
When we first met, I thought she was an angel sent from heaven. Blonde hair that when the sun hits, I swear she has a halo wrapped around her head. Blue eyes that every time I looked into them, I always forgot everything I was feeling. I know I had the same effect on her because she told me multiple times. It wasn’t until we first kissed that we actually felt something for each other.  
Now, after being together for almost twenty years, my love for her hasn’t changed. I don’t think it will ever change no matter what happens. If she dies sometime in the inevitable future, I’ll still love her. Even when I thought she was dead, I still loved her. I will always love this woman that I have wrapped tight against me.  
The sound of someone screaming nearly made both of us jump out of our skins. McKayla looked up at me with wide eyes knowing that I was going to be getting up to investigate. I know she’d get up as well, but she’s hooked up to the monitors still. Whatever is going on, there’s panic going on in the entire house right now.  
“I’ll be right back.” I tell her as I kiss her forehead and slip out from her grasp.  
Walking out the door to McKayla’s room, I started heading down the hallway towards the front door. Once I get there, the hallway that’s on the opposite side of the house, has people running back and forth. That’s when I see Christie covered in blood, standing in the main hallway of the house. It almost reminds of a scene in a horror film until I see Raymond running towards her and throwing his arms around her.  
“Daryl!” I hear Rick yell from where everyone is running. I start running towards that area to see nothing but blood smothered down the hallway.  
“What the fuck happened?” I asked him.  
“Antonio changed in the middle of the night. Christie went in there this morning, got attacked. Abraham saved her but…” That’s when we both saw Rosita walking down the hallway crying hysterically. She was followed by Tara, Carol, and Eugene.  
“Anyone else?” I asked Rick and he shook his head no.  
“Daddy?” I heard DJ say from the top of the stairs with Judith by his side.   
Rick turned around at the same time as I did and we both walked up the stairs to our kids. We both stayed up there for a while until we got the clear to come down. Koda was growling the entire time Rick and I were standing in the second-floor hallway. When we started walking the stairs, he barked which made both us stop.  
“Ko…” I was cut off when we heard screaming again.  
“DJ, go back into your bedroom with Judith now.” I said putting him down. Koda followed both of them back into the room and the door closed behind them. Rick and I ran straight down the stairs to see Rosita and Christie fighting. Rick went straight for Rosita while I helped Raymond control Christie. There’s something about Hispanic women when they start fighting, you don’t always want to get into the middle of it. Tara was sitting up against the wall holding her face.  
“Enough!” We all heard someone yell. I turned around to see McKayla standing there, wrapped in a blanket. For some reason, that was enough for all of us to completely stop what we were doing.  
“Someone care to explain what the hell is going on?” She asked holding onto the banister.  
We all started looking back and forth at each other, not really sure what to say. McKayla started walking closer but stopped and kneeled down to see what happened to Tara.  
“Come on hun, let’s go get you cleaned up.” She says standing back up while holding onto Tara. They stopped just in front of the stairs and McKayla leaned up to whisper something in Tara’s ear before taking off her blanket. I almost forgot that I got McKayla a change of clothes last night. She turned around and started heading towards us.  
“You all should be ashamed of yourselves right now. I’m not sure what’s going on, but I have a pretty good guess based on the amount of blood. When someone dies, you don’t fight like a bunch of savages. You stick together no matter what. And if this is your idea of being a leader Rick, you’re not doing a good job.” She said before turning on her heal and walking away.  
“Should I be worried at the fact she said all of that without yelling?” Rick said without looking at me.  
“Yes, because that usually means she’s extremely pissed off.” I tell him as I turned around to see Carl and Michonne heading in our direction.  
“Where’s DJ and Judith?” Carol asks us.  
“Upstairs with Koda.” Carol nods and they both tell us that they’re going upstairs to keep the kids busy. Raymond walks passed us with his arm wrapped around Christie. Rosita is sitting on one of the chairs in the kitchen while Eugene continues to stand there. Maggie and Glenn are standing behind Rosita trying to comfort her as much as she’ll let them.  
I turned around to go find McKayla. By the time I get to the front of the stairs, something stops me once again. This time, it’s not screaming. It’s not fighting, crying, nothing like that. It’s Maggie’s voice.  
I walked back to where everyone is to see Maggie standing nearly completely still with wide eyes. Glenn looks as white as ghost as well as Rick. I must be missing something but as soon as I moved closer is when I see the puddle underneath Maggie. I turned around quickly to go find Raymond.  
Running up the stairs, skipping steps in the process. I run straight to their room and bang on the door. Raymond answers and I never gave him the chance to say anything.  
“Come quick. Maggie’s water just broke.” And with that, Raymond follows me back down the stairs as Maggie and Glenn head towards the infirmary. I follow them, but instead of going where they are going, I head towards where McKayla took Tara just a few minutes before. It’s obvious that she’s pissed, but I need to make sure that she’s alright.   
McKayla’s POV  
For some messed up reason I decided to get out of bed to figure out what was going on. To my surprise, it was nothing but absolute chaos. People fighting and yelling at each other while someone else is sitting on the floor bleeding. I got Tara up and out of there before I said what I needed to say. I may have said some things that the group may look at me differently from now on but I don’t care.  
That’s all I was thinking the entire time I was helping Tara clean up. She explained to me that she was trying to hold back Rosita but her elbow connected with her face. I’m not sure if it’s broken or not but it’s bleeding. Luckily enough it’s calmed down a lot since we came in here. It’s only minimal now.  
“Can you breathe through your nose Tara?” I asked her and she tried which was a success.  
“Well I don’t think we need to set your nose because it’s not shaped weird. She must’ve hit you just right so it didn’t actually break.”  
“Is that supposed to make me feel better?”  
“When Mattie was six, I got a call from the hospital telling me my husband got into a car accident. When I got there, I was told that he was in surgery. Apparently, an 18-wheeler went right through him. But as you can see, he lived.”  
“Your husband really is the ultimate badass isn’t he?” Tara asked with a smile across her face. I was going to answer but a knock on the door stopped me. Daryl’s head popped in and Tara told us that she’ll leave us alone.  
Taking a deep breath, I grabbed everything we were using to either throw away or rinse out. Once I came to the conclusion that it’s not going to be thrown away, I walked over to the sink to wash it. Daryl shut the door and sat down in one of the chairs behind me.  
“I can’t believe you snapped on all of us like that.” I heard Daryl say from behind me.  
“Well it seemed to me that someone needed to snap you all out of it.”  
“McKayla, Rick is a good leader. Yes, he’s had his moments but we’re still alive, well most of us anyways.” That’s when I heard him standing up and walking towards me.  
His wrapped around my waist and pulled me tight against him. He moved my hair to one side before burying his face in my neck. I could feel his hands running up and down my stomach as he started kissing my neck. In that moment, I completely forgot what happened.  
Daryl has a way to make me forget everything. It could be a single look, a touch, even just his voice. He’s always had this power over me and sometimes it drives me absolutely insane. I know it’s so I’ll calm down and it always works.  
“McKayla, you know I love you right?” He whispered in my ear and that gave me the initiative to turn around in his arms to face him.  
“Yes? Why?”  
“Just wanted to tell you that.” I raised an eyebrow up at Daryl when he said that. It almost seems like he’s hiding something from me but I have no idea what.  
Then we hear a knock on the door which makes us stop doing whatever we’re doing. Carol’s head pops in and her face looks worried.  
“Hey sorry, um McKayla, can I speak to you for a second please?” Daryl looks down at me and kisses me quick before leaving the room.  
“What’s going on Carol?”  
“It’s Maggie, she’s in labor. She’s freaking out, won’t let Raymond touch her. She wants you McKayla.” I pierced my lips together and closed my eyes when she said that.  
“Alright let’s go.” I said as I walked passed her and out the door. The other infirmary room we had set up was across from mine. Raymond was standing in the wall outside of the door.  
“What’s going on?” I asked him.  
“She’s freaking out. She wants you because you’ve gone through a pregnancy and a birth and came out alive.” I nod and knocked on the door before walking in. Maggie was laying on her side while Glenn rubbed her lower back. Walking over to the sink, I washed my hands and put gloves on. I’m taking all the necessary precautions that I possibly can right now.  
“Maggie, can you roll onto your back sweetie?” She looked up at me with tear filled eyes and nods before turning over slightly. I proceeded to tell her to bend her knees so I can check how far along she is.  
The last thing I expected when I looked down there was to see a nearly a full head of hair. Her body is doing all the work and she didn’t even realize it. I looked up at Maggie and smiled at her which resulted in her giving me a curious look.  
“Maggie, the baby is coming right now. You don’t need to worry. Just push, not hard though, alright?” And that’s exactly what she did. She started pushing along with her body. A few pushes later, I had a baby in my arms and I’m starting to wipe it off. I asked Carol for the clamp and scissors so I could cut the cord. Then the baby squealed loudly and it reminded me of when Mattie and DJ were born.  
“It’s a girl.” I said standing up and handing her over to Maggie. Maggie’s eyes started tearing up which automatically made mine as well. The baby is absolutely beautiful. A perfect combination of Maggie and Glenn.   
“What are you naming her?” I asked and Glenn and Maggie looked at each other with a smile.  
“Bethany Leanne.” She tells me with a smile stretched across her face. I took that moment to leave the room so Raymond can check Maggie and the baby out. Delivering is one thing but the aftermath is completely different. I have no idea what I’m doing.  
As I walked out of the room, I see Daryl leaning up against the wall. I smiled and grabbed his hand to bring him back into the room I’ve been staying in. Wrapping my arms around his neck, I pull his mouth to mine and press my lips to his. His arms are moving up my sides and taking my shirt off in the process. I begin doing the same to him as well. Then he picks me up and carries me to the bed. I think the rest is self-explanatory.


	24. No Matter What

No Matter What  
Mattie’s POV  
I’m slightly cold when I finally woke up from a deep slumber. The sun is shining through the window as I opened my eyes. The comforter that’s on top of me is thick and in that moment, I realized Carl was no longer beside me. I’m not even sure when he left me either. It’s not like him to just leave before I’m awake, but that’s usually because I’m awake before him.  
As I began to sit up the door opened and Carl walked in carrying a box. I don’t think he realized right away that I was even awake until he turned and looked at me. His mesmerizing blue eyes met mine and I watched him give me a half smile. Putting the box down on the dresser, he walks over to the bed and sits down on it before kissing me softly on the lips. I reached my hand up and around his head to pull him closer to me.  
“Well, good morning to you too.” He says pulling away from me slightly.  
“Good morning.” I said with a smile on my face.  
“I need to clean your wound if that’s alright.” He asks me and I just nod my response. He gets off the bed to walk over to the dresser but returns with an arm full of stuff.  
“I, um, can you pull up your shirt please?” Carl asks all flushed and I start laughing just by how he said it. I pull up my shirt, revealing the bandage wrapped around my waist.  
This is the first time I’ve seen the bandage wrapped around me. I haven’t even seen the wound that’s underneath it, but he has. That’s when I begin to wonder how much he’s actually seen of me when I was unconscious. It doesn’t really matter completely, Carl has seen me without a shirt on but I think it’s a little weird at the same time.  
“I have to cut the bandage off that’s wrapped around you.” He says holding up the scissors.  
“Okay. Are you trying to tell me not to move?”  
“Ya, sort of.” I smile and he pulls at the bandage slightly to start cutting if off. A few snips later, it’s off and for the first time, I see the wound.  
It wasn’t anything spectacular, just some dried blood with stitches in my skin. Carl looks like it’s not even affecting him at all but then again, he saw it when it was actually bleeding. He grabbed a bottle of hydrogen peroxide and poured some on a cloth before cleaning the site. It made me wince in pain slightly from the cold and the sting.  
“Sorry.”  
“It’s fine Carl. It could’ve been a lot worse.” He shrugged and continued cleaning both wounds without making any eye contact. I watched him do everything slowly, obviously trying not to hurt me. A few minutes later, he puts a new bandage on and I pull my shirt back down. He stands up to discard the used bandages and to put everything else back in the box.  
“Are you hungry?” He says turning around holding a few cans of different food. I nod and he brings them over, placing them in front of me.  
There was a can of fruit cocktail, two cans of tuna, and a can of sweet corn. Carl started preparing our meals but the last thing that I expected was to see mayo. My jaw dropped open and Carl smiled as I watched him drain the tuna. A couple minutes later he hands me over a bowl of tuna and a sleeve of crackers.  
“Where exactly did you find the mayo and everything else?”  
“Oh um, Johnathon gave it to me.” He says taking another bite. I nod and do the same thing.  
“Where is he?”  
“He’s down in the bunker that’s beneath us.”  
“Wait what? There’s a bunker underneath us and you’re now just telling me?” I said placing the bowl next to me and working to stand up. Once I was up though, I felt light headed and immediately sat back down with a thump.  
“Mattie, I was going to tell you. Just don’t worry about it right now, alright.” I nod and we finish our food in silence.  
“Where’s the restroom in this place?”  
“I’ll show you.” He says picking up everything in the process. Swinging my legs over the side of the bed, Carl stands in front of me to help me stand. The pain in my side is mild which I’m highly surprised about. I asked him if there’s toothpaste and a toothbrush in the box. He said no and that he can get some.  
He walked me to the bathroom and left me there so I can do what I have to do. By the time I finished, he knocked on the door and came in with a toothbrush, toothpaste and a few other items in hand. I smiled and took the two items I wanted the most. I put some toothpaste on the brush and began brushing my teeth as he grabbed the toothpaste to do the same thing. Apparently he wanted to brush his teeth as well.  
We finished doing everything we needed to do in the bathroom and started making our way back into the bedroom. I walked in first and found that he ended up covering the window in the room to make it darker. The last thing that I expected was to find that he had lit a few candles while I was in the bathroom alone. I didn’t even think I was in there that long but apparently I was wrong.  
“Carl what is this?” I asked him as he wrapped his arms around my waist being fully aware of my side.  
“I thought that I’d do something, I don’t know…romantic?” He said with a slight uncertainty in his voice. I turned around in his arms to look at him.  
“Carl, this is absolutely amazing.” I said as I brought my hands up to his face to pull it towards me. Our lips met and he ended up pulling me closer to his body. That’s when the kiss and the atmosphere in the room changed.  
Our usual kisses are quick and sort of sloppy. This one though wasn’t. It was slow, passionate like we were both taking our time to savor the moment. Then he started pushing me back towards the bed to lay me down which both of us managed to do gracefully and without hurting me in the process. I want him so bad right now and I have a feeling he does as well. At least I hope he does.  
Carl’s POV  
This is the moment that we’ve both been waiting for the past few months, but we just haven’t found the right moment yet. I’m not sure if it’s the fact that we’re away from our group or not. I wanted to do something special for Mattie since we’re stuck in a cabin away from everyone. It wasn’t until I went downstairs to get a few things until I knew exactly what I wanted to do for her. I didn’t know until I saw that box of candles next to all the other things that I needed to get.  
Johnathon told me that I could take whatever I needed for Mattie and I. So I decided to take a box of candles and matches to place around the room while she was in the bathroom. I even took a thick black sheet so I could cover up the window to make it darker in the room. I cleaned the room once I got in there and placed candles all around after putting the sheet up. After lighting each one, I took a final look before heading back to the bathroom where Mattie was.  
Now were back in the room we’ve been staying in since last night and I’m on top of her. I know this isn’t something we should do because she’s hurt but she’d at least let me know if I’m hurting her. At least I’m being cautious of the wound on her side and not putting any pressure on it. That was until she wrapped her legs around me to pull me down closer to her. In that single moment, everything changed and I don’t think we were even prepared to what was to come next.  
I could feel Mattie’s hand running down the length of my back to pull my shirt off but I sat up to take it off myself. Mattie’s hands came up and slowly began running her hands and nails down my chest. That made me close my eyes quickly and tightly while my mouth dropped open by her touch. That’s when I felt her hands go back and gently pulling me back down on top of her. Our lips locked once again and the kiss became deeper.  
While holding myself up with one hand, I started working on taking off her shirt. She took the hint and took it off exposing her pink bra. I didn’t even have to sit back at all for her to take her shirt off from underneath me. She was able to maneuver her shirt off without a single struggle. What I didn’t expect though was her reaching behind her to unclasp her bra to take it off.  
“Carl, I don’t want you to stop.” It took me a minute to figure out exactly what she was saying.  
“Are you sure?”  
“Yes Carl, I’m sure.” As soon as she said those words, our mouths crashed together. I started grinding my pelvis into hers and I started hearing her moan as I did it. I just wanted to show her what she did to me and she used that to her advantage.  
Slipping her hands between us, she started working on my pants to take them off. As she did that, I kicked off my shoes which hit the floor with a loud thump. Mattie’s were already off which made everything a little easier. Once my pants were off, I started kissing down her neck, savoring the taste of her skin. Her hands went straight for my hair and began tugging on the strands gently.  
As she continued doing that, I kissed down farther and took her nipple into my mouth. That’s when she started moaning louder and pulling on my hair harder as well. Planting kisses in between her breasts before going to the other one and doing the same thing. Swirling my tongue around it, sucking on it and lightly biting it as well. I honestly have no idea what I’m doing, I’m winging it right now but apparently I’m doing something right by all the noises she’s currently making.  
Moving down her stomach, I reached my hand in between us to undo her pants. Leaning up, I grab the hem of her pants to slowly take them off while looking up at her. She was smiling and looking me directly in the eyes. When I had her pants off, I slowly began kissing up her leg which made her begin to squirm. I didn’t stop there though, leaning back down in between her legs, I started kissing her inner thighs.  
“Carl, that tickles.” I heard her say while giggling in the process. Leaning up once again to take off her panties and sliding my boxers off in the process. Moving up so I could claim her lips once again, I reached in between us to move my member to her entrance.  
“Are you still sure about this Mattie?”  
“Yes Carl, I’m sure I want this. I love you no matter what.”  
“I love you too Mattie, no matter what.” As soon as I said that, I slowly pushed my way into her. Her breathing hitched and once again her hands were up around my neck. Easing my way out slowly, I pushed back in a little faster and she through her head back.  
“Are you okay?”  
“Ya, I’m fine. Keep going.” She said without opening her eyes. I listened and did the same thing as before but picking up the pace with each thrust. Her legs came up and wrapped around me which made me going in even farther. That’s when I started to feel her tense up around me which made me nearly let go right then and there.  
Slowing down to calm myself, Mattie let go around me and moaned louder while digging her nails into my back. It didn’t hurt that bad but it made me pull out of her to only slam back in with force. By the way she reacted to that, she enjoyed it, and so I did it again until I found my release. I pushed in as far as I could go and let go which made her tense up around me once again.  
Once I was finished, I rolled onto my back and almost instantly Mattie started laughing. I rolled over onto my side and watched her cover her mouth as she continued laughing.  
“What exactly is so funny?”  
“Nothing, I just wasn’t expecting it to go so smoothly.” She said as she slowly turned onto her side to face me. I reached my hand up to wrap around her waist before moving closer towards her. Mattie smiled before putting her hand on face to pull me in for a kiss.  
“Was I least good?” I said pulling away from her.  
“Yes, Carl. It was amazing. You’re amazing. I love you.” She said kissing me again.  
“I love you too.” I said before kissing her again and that’s what we continued doing. We didn’t do it again though. We just kissed, laughed and cuddled up to one another after I grabbed the comforter to cover us both up. Eventually we both found sleep in each other’s arms. Once she was asleep though, I got up to blow out the candles and to look out the window quick. When I pushed back the sheet, it was no longer snowing but the sun was already beginning to go back down. Tomorrow morning, we’ll start making our way back to our group. Leaving tonight won’t work we both need our sleep now, especially her. I crawled back in bed and pulled her into my arms before falling asleep.


	25. Cleared Weather

Cleared Weather  
Daryl’s POV  
At some point last night, I carried McKayla up the stairs to our bed. We were both done with that hospital bed and wanted to be able to sprawl out if we wanted to. She nuzzled her head onto my chest and slept peacefully all night, as did I. Even with us having a larger bed, she sleeps just like how she first slept when we met. Even then, she slept just like this with my arms wrapped around her tightly. I never wanted to let her go then and I don’t want to now.  
When we first met, I thought she was an angel sent down from heaven. Blonde hair that when the sun hits, I swear she has a halo wrapped around her head. Blue eyes that every time I looked into them, I always forgot everything I was feeling or thinking. I know I had the same effect on her because she’s told me multiple times. It wasn’t until we first kissed that we actually felt something for each other.  
Now, after being together for almost twenty years, my love for her hasn’t changed. I don’t think it will ever change no matter what happens. If she dies sometime in the inevitable future, I’ll still love her. Even when I thought she was dead, I still loved her. I will always love this woman that I have wrapped tight against me.  
“Daryl.” I hear someone say from the door. I could barely make it out but then he popped his head in more and I noticed that it was Rick. I held a finger to my mouth to tell him to be quiet. Carefully and slowly, I move out from underneath McKayla and headed out into the hall to Rick. Once I was out there, I found Rick with a smile stretched across his face.  
“Rick, what the hell is going on? You’re smilin’ like a damn fool.”  
“The weather is clear. We can go find our kids now.” I closed my eyes and placed a hand over my heart. Those few words made everything even better. Rick walked up to me and placed a hand on my shoulder to pull me in for our typical brotherly hug. He pulled away and walked away so I can go tell McKayla the good news.  
I walked back into the room to find McKayla sitting up on the bed. She smiled as soon as she saw me and I returned the smile. Sitting down on the bed, I grabbed her hands to pull them to my mouth to kiss her knuckles.  
“Daryl, what the hell is going on with you? You’re never like this.” She says, just barely shaking her head.  
“Rick just informed me that the weather is clear and that we can go find Mattie and Carl.” She pulled her hands out of mine and clasped them to her mouth. I watched her eyes tear up with excitement and I pulled her to me.   
Mattie and Carl have been missing now for two days and we’re not even sure if they’re alive or dead. I know Carl will take care of Mattie, no matter what but it still scares the shit out of me. They’re together whether I like it or not but with them missing, I have no idea what kind of trouble they’ve gotten themselves into. I’m just hoping both of them will be perfectly fine. I don’t think we could handle it if we find out one or both of them are completely gone.  
“Go find our daughter Daryl.” She says and I nod before I lean in to kiss her gently on the lips. I leave the room to find Rick, Raymond and Michonne packed up and ready to go.  
Carl’s POV  
I woke up to Mattie still snuggled close beside me, sleeping peacefully. She’s absolutely beautiful when she’s sleeping. Her hair is a complete mess which makes me laugh. I laughed a little too loud and Mattie shifted to look at me. She raised an eyebrow, giving me a questionable stare. I shrugged my shoulders and pulled her in to kiss me.  
“Well good morning to you too.” She said unlocking our lips.  
“Good morning. How’d you sleep?”  
“Like you don’t know.” She said with a highly intoxicating smile. Leaning in, she kissed me gently before sitting up and throwing her legs over the side of the bed. I watched her find the shirt I had on last night to throw it on before standing up. The shirt reached her mid-thigh and thankfully it was long enough to cover everything.  
“Where you going?” I asked her as she walked towards the door.  
“If it’s alright with you, I’m going to go use the restroom.” She says turning on her heel and walking out the door, closing it behind her. I took that time to check out the condition outside. Standing up and grabbing my jeans to put them on in the process, I look out the window and smile. It’s still clear, we can go home but I need to figure out which direction we’re going.  
Walking out in the hall and into the kitchen, I find Johnathon making food. He turns and nods before going back to what he was doing. I looked out another window to see if I could see anything but I couldn’t. Shaking my head, I turned around and Johnathon gave me a questioning look.  
“You wouldn’t happen to have a map of the area would you?”  
“Actually I do, somewhere…ah, here.” He said while rummaging through drawers to find it. Opening it up and spread it out on the table.  
“We’re right here, just to let you know.” He says pointing to where the cabin is located on the map. I start looking at it and I hear Mattie walk out of the bathroom. She was about to walk this way until she saw Johnathon and turned back around to go into the bedroom. A minute she returned with pants on and my flannel shirt that she has wrapped around her body.  
“What’s going on?” She asked when she reached us.  
“I’m trying to figure out which direction to go.”  
“Wait, we can go home?” I nod in the direction of the window and Mattie runs to it. She opens the blinds to look outside and turns back around to smile at me.  
“I’ll give you two a seat of snowshoes. It’ll make it easier for you two to walk on the snow.” I nod my response to Johnathon and continue looking at the map. I finally figured out the right direction to go and started heading into the bedroom to pack our stuff up.  
I found Mattie standing in front of the window once in the bedroom we’ve been staying in. Walking over to her and wrapping my arms around her waist, she leans back against me. I started kissing her neck and she turned around to kiss me on the lips before wrapping her arms around my neck.  
Mattie’s POV  
We stood there in front of the window as we continued to kiss. Carl’s arms were pulling me close against him. He’s only wearing jeans and I’m pretty much fully dressed. I feel his hands moving down and then grabbing me to hoist me into the air. I yipped loudly when he did that.  
Wrapping my legs around his waist, he walks over to our little bed on the floor and lays us down on it. How he lays both of us down, gently and carefully I have no idea. Carl continues to amaze me every single day. My hands move down his body and I hooked my fingers into the waist band of his jeans to pull them down to expose his already hardened length.   
Everything went by quickly but it felt amazing. Once again, my breathing his heavy and I’m covered in sweat. This is our second time in the last twenty four hours but it still feels like it’s the first time over and over again. I don’t think I could ever get bored with this. I don’t know how anyone could ever get bored with this feeling.  
“We need to start heading out Mattie.” I hear him say. I nod and we work swiftly to get dressed and pack up some of the stuff. We discussed how we’ll tell the group that we found a shelter with supplies. A few minutes later, we were opening the door and climbing up a small mountain of snow that drifted to the door.  
I asked Carl which direction we were heading in and he just pointed. I didn’t want to question him because he was at least aware of where we were. He explained to me that we should be to the house in an hour at least. The snow made it difficult to walk through but with the snowshoes Johnathon gave us, it made it at least a little bit easier. A few minutes later, we saw a clearing up ahead and a few figures moving towards us. Then I saw the resemblance of a crossbow over the man’s shoulder and I almost jumped out of my skin. Carl grabbed my hand to stop me. I know he was making sure that it was them, then we heard the familiar voices and we both started running.  
“Dad!” I yelled almost immediately. I watched him drop his crossbow and he began to run towards us, Rick followed quickly after him. Running and jumping into my father’s loving arms once again.  
“Are you okay?” He asks me.  
“Yes dad, I’m fine. Carl took care of me.”  
“We took care of each other.” Carl corrected me. His hand touched my side that was wounded and that was the first time in two days that I felt pain from it.  
“What happened?”  
“I’m not sure. Carl took care of it though. I didn’t even feel anything until now. I almost forgot it was there.” We followed everyone back to the house, Carl’s fingers interlinked with mine. When we walked inside everyone jumped up in complete joy. Then I saw my mom walking down the stairs being assisted by Carol.  
“I’ve missed you.” She said as she placed a hand on my cheek. I wrapped my arms around her and hugged her tight. I think we both started crying a little bit, then DJ ran down the stairs and jumped into my arms wrapping his tiny arms around my neck.  
McKayla’s POV  
After two days of being gone, Mattie and Carl are finally home and they’re both fine. Mattie did have what they think is a bullet wound but Raymond checked it out and told us that it looks fine. I walked into the infirmary room that Mattie was in and found Carl whispering something in her ear. She smiled and laughed after he was done. Those two are so cute when they start acting like that.  
Carl noticed that I walked into the room first and whispered something in Mattie’s ear before kissing her quickly on the cheek. He passed me and nodded before slipping out the door. I walked over to Mattie and wrapped my arms around her to hug her again. I can hear her take a deep breath and I lean back to look at her.  
“Mattie Lynn, don’t ever scare me like that again.”  
“I won’t mama. I promise. I’m so sorry for what I said.” I said wrapping her in my arms one last time.  
“Oh baby, don’t even worry about it. I’m just happy you’re back safe. Both of you.” I grabbed her hands in both of mine and held onto them. Then I felt something on her left ring finger and I looked down to see a ring.  
“Mattie Lynn, what is this?” I asked her and she smiled.  
“Carl asked me to be his girlfriend with this.” She chuckled a little bit when she gave me that answer.  
“Aww, I’m so happy for the two of you. I thought you two were already dating but apparently I was wrong.”  
“We talked about it but apparently Carl had a few tricks up his sleeve.” She smiled and for the first time I saw how happy she really was. Then when I looked closer at her, I could tell she was glowing.  
“Mattie, did something happen when you and Carl were missing?” Mattie pierced her lips together to hide her smile. With her big brown eyes, she looked at me and slowly nodded.  
“Did…did you two use protection?” In that moment, Mattie’s eyes widened and I knew that they didn’t. I never put any thought into it about talking to her about this. Surviving in this world, the last thing on my mind was to have a talk like this with my daughter. Apparently Rick didn’t think about telling Carl about it either.  
“We’ll figure it out but for right now, we’re not telling your father anything. Do you understand me?” I said placing a hand on each side of her face. Her eyes were tearing up and my heart was breaking.  
“Yes mama. I understand.” I pulled her into my arms once again and she let out a quiet sob into my chest.  
“I have to talk to Raymond though alright?” She nodded her response and after a few minutes of crying quietly with each other, I worked up enough strength to leave her be to collect herself. It’s going to be a long road ahead for all of us if there’s a chance that she’s pregnant. The last thing she needs is to be pregnant, especially at her age but unfortunately it happens. Just didn’t think she’ll be having to go through this at such a young age. Then again, no one thought that we’d be going through any of this. We’ll just have to face any obstacle that’s thrown at us and hope we come out on the other side.


	26. New World Order Part 1

New World Order Part 1  
Aaron’s POV  
A single nightmare woke me up from a deep sleep but it wasn’t as bad as some of them have been in the past. Izzie is still sleeping peacefully beside me wrapped in a sheet. Taking a deep breath, I sit up and throw my leg over the side of the bed. Looking down on the floor, I locate my prosthetic and strap that on before standing up to go into the bathroom as quietly as I can. I don’t want to wake Izzie up knowing that’s it still earlier but not sure how early it actually is.  
Walking into the bathroom and closing the door behind me before turning on the light, I stand in front of the mirror. I’ve aged a lot over the past two months and you can tell by the lines on my face. I wasn’t young to begin with but then again, who is young anymore. I know I have probably have twenty years on Izzie but she doesn’t seem to care. Just hopefully no one gives us shit for being together but that’s always wishful thinking. Besides we have other issues at hand to be dealing with.  
Turning the water on, I splashed some cool water on my face to wake myself up a little bit more. Walking back out the room after shutting the light off, I find clothes and get dressed by the moon light shining through the window. I leaned over Izzie to kiss her on the forehead quickly before leaving the room. She hardly moved when I kissed her or when I pushed some of her hair out of the way before doing so. She looks so peaceful sleeping and she doesn’t even know I’m leaving.  
I made my way into the living room to see Mathey sprawled out on the couch with the bottle of whiskey in his hand. Walking over to him, I grabbed the bottle out of his hand and noticed that it was about three quarters of the way full. Mathey is either a light weight or this was his second bottle, either way, it’s mine now. Putting the bottle to my lips, I took a long harsh swig and swallowing the amber liquid down before walking out the front door.  
I wasn’t sure where I was even going until I stood in front of the building where I was earlier last night. Walking through the front doors, it was obvious no one was even awake yet. Even if they were, I wouldn’t care either way. Walking down the hallway towards the circular room, I took another long swig before walking through the double doors. As if on que, the lights turn on, revealing the monitors and someone sitting in front of it.  
Apparently I wasn’t being as quiet as I thought, the kid that was sitting in front of the monitor turned around and nearly jumped right out of his skin. I shot my hands up with the bottle in one hand to signify that I’m not a threat. He took a deep breath and returned his attention to the monitors. I took a seat in front of one of the monitors and turned it on.  
“Hey kid, you know how to work these things right?”  
“Ya I do. What are you trying to find?” It through me off for a second when he talked, I wasn’t expecting him to be British.  
“Last night, I was watching monitors from the CDC in Atlanta.” I told him. He nodded and pushed a few buttons on the keyboard.  
“And for your information, my names not kid, it’s Taylor. Taylor Begum.”  
“Nice to meet you Taylor. I’m Aaron Forbes.” He nods and his attention is back on the monitors. I’m not sure what he’s looking for. It could be the same as me for all I know. I’m not even sure what I’m looking for.  
We sat there staring at the monitors in silence for a while. I glanced over at his and there was nothing but static. On mine however, people were beginning to wake up. That’s when Taylor looked over at my screen and began staring at it.  
“Wow, that’s the first time I’ve seen people on one of these monitors. But they don’t look like doctors to me.”  
“That’s because they’re not.” I told him.   
“You see that man right there?” he nods. “That’s my brother in law.” Taylor looked up at me and shook his head. Leaning back I gave him a questionable look and he leaned back in his chair.  
“He’s dead. No matter how bad you want to go save him, you’ll never get there in time.”  
“Why…”  
“Hey kid, time’s up. Brett wants your ass out of here right now.” I turned around to see a man dressed in a black military uniform with a gun strapped around his shoulder staring directly at us. Taylor shuts off his monitor without any hesitation and stands up.  
“You too, old man.” I huffed but right now I’d rather not start any fights. I did the same thing as Taylor and stood up, grabbing the bottle in the process. Following Taylor down the aisles towards where the soldier is standing, I take another swig before walking passed him.  
Following Taylor out of the building and down the street, I stopped when I saw the sun begin to come up over the horizon. I looked down for a minute until I heard Taylor stop walking in front of me. When I looked up, he was looking back at me. Shaking my head, I started walking again and passed him. A minute later, I stopped in my tracks when I saw Izzie walking down the street towards us.  
“Where the hell have you been? I woke up this morning and you weren’t there. Flan and Mathey have been looking everywhere for you Aaron.”  
“Izzie, calm down. I’m fine. I was in the CDC.”  
“What were you doing in there and who the hell is this?”  
“Nothing and this is Taylor.”  
“Hell ma’am.” I hear Taylor say and Izzie raises an eyebrow at him but turns her attention back at me. She takes a deep breath while shaking her head before turning around to head towards the house. We both follow her.  
I’m not sure why Taylor is following us but Izzie doesn’t seem to mind and neither do I. It seems to me that Taylor might not have anywhere to go which could mean that he’s lost someone. We’ve came across that plenty of times these past couple months. Families being torn apart because of this flesh eating pandemic. Not even in a million years did I ever think this was ever going to happen, at least not in my lifetime.  
We’ve seen movies plenty of times that had something like this but now that it’s happened, it doesn’t make it any easier. Fighting every single day against the undead, living and even ourselves. It didn’t take long for some people to take the easy way out. It didn’t take long for them to lose their minds either. It seems like this plague might’ve turned people into who they really were meant to be.  
When we turned down our street, I saw Flan and Mathey heading towards us. Flan looked pissed off to no end just like Izzie did. Mathey on the other hand, seemed to be getting a kick out it. He has a way of finding humor out of every single situation we’ve ever faced. Unlike Flan, which finds the negative of every single situation. Izzie called them Yin and Yang, and honestly I agree with her.  
“Where the fuck have you been?” Flan yelled from a few feet away.  
“Don’t worry about it.” I said passing him.  
“Who’s the stray?”  
“I’m no stray. My name is...”  
“I don’t give a shit what your name is kid.” Said Flan and that made me whip around to begin a stare off with him. Flan shook his head and started walking back towards the house quickly. Mathey stayed behind and walked with the kid.  
“Seriously though Aaron, what is up with the kid? Why is he following you like a lost puppy?” Izzie whispered to me as we continued walking side by side.  
“I don’t know but I don’t think he has a place to go.”  
“What makes you think that?”  
“Cause I feel the same way.” Izzie didn’t reply when I said that. By the time we got back to the house, I had already finished the entire bottle. Izzie never said one single thing about it though because she understands, I think. As I made my way up the steps to the house, I turned around and saw Taylor standing there at the bottom.  
“You gotta place Taylor?”  
“Not really Sir.” I looked up at Izzie and she nodded with a slight smile.  
“Come on. Let’s see if we can’t find you a place in here.” And that’s exactly what we did. Apparently this house was a little bit bigger than we initially thought.  
Izzie and I have the downstairs bedroom. There was a bedroom in the basement which Flan took which none of us were surprised about that. Mathey and Taylor took the two bedroom that were upstairs. Mathey made a joke saying him, Taylor and Flan were the kids and Izzie and I were the parents. Izzie answered that by throwing a pillow from the couch at him.  
We spent the rest of the morning and afternoon, after we got the word that this is our permanent home, getting everything situated. We received food stamps to get food down at the storage facility. Izzie took Taylor and Mathey with her to do that. Flan and I stayed back to do some work on the house which really was to make sure no one could break in. I guess you can say Flan and I are a little cautious about that.  
“So kid, what’s your story?” Izzie asked him as we sat down and began eating dinner.  
“I really don’t have a story ma’am.”  
“Please call me Izzie. How’d you wind up here?”  
“I was by myself. Brett and his guys found me. Brought me here and I’ve been here ever since.” As soon as Taylor said that, the mood in the room changed. I sat back in my chair, taking a long sip from my glass before even saying a thing.  
“What do you think about Brett?”  
“Besides the fact that he saved my life?” I nodded and everyone else stopped eating to listen to what he had to say.  
“I don’t care for him. I understand that he might’ve saved me but I never asked for it. A couple weeks ago, I over-heard him go on and on about this new world order ordeal.” He says as he takes a sip of his water. We all stopped what we were doing and looked directly at him.  
“What?” He said looking back at us with wide eyes.  
“What’s this new world order?”  
“I’m not really sure. All I know is that he’s making an announcement tomorrow afternoon around two. I know that he said something that he’d be in full charge and all of his minions will be the soldiers.”  
“Sounds like he’s trying to play God.” Mathey said.  
“Sounds more like a dictatorship.” I said quietly as I took another sip of my drink. That’s when the entire room got quiet, well even quieter than it did before. Izzie’s face went straight, as did Flan and Mathey. Taylor’s face on the other hand, he looked slightly confused when I said that.  
Taylor is young, not really sure how young he is exactly, but it seems that he doesn’t know much about history just by the look on his face. I never asked him how old he was, but earlier when the man stopped by to let us know this is our permanent residence, I told him Taylor will be staying with us. The man didn’t put up any fuss what so ever. He just wrote it down that there’s an extra person living here. So this is where we are now.  
“So what are we going to do about this new found information?” Flan said sitting back in his chair.  
“I don’t know. What do you suggest?”  
“We could kill him.” Mathey said under his breath but loud enough that we all could hear him.  
In that single moment, those four words burned a hole through my mind. Everyone started looking at each other then eventually looked directly at me for an answer. I didn’t have one right away because I have no idea how we’d even go about doing such a thing. Then it seemed like a light turned on in my head.  
“Hey Taylor, you know your way around here right?” I asked and he nodded.  
“Here’s what we’re going to do. Taylor, Izzie and Mathey, you three are going to…” And we had a plan.


	27. New World Order Part 2

New World Order Part 2  
Aaron’s POV  
The plan was set and on the verge of being in motion. The location where all of this is taking place is within the heart of the CDC where all the monitors are located. It’s a mandatory speech that every single resident of the safe zone has to be there. Of course, this is sort of a problem for us since Izzie, Mathey and Taylor will be used as a major distraction to lure Brett away from everyone. I have a strong feeling that there might be more casualties than we anticipate though if something goes wrong.  
Just like any plan, you can’t always count for innocent bystanders or even the other group that you want to get rid of. Using Taylor as bait might not be the smartest move because of how young he is but he said he’ll be fine. Izzie and Mathey will be close by so he should be perfectly safe anyways. I’ve grown to like this kid in the twenty-four hours since I’ve met him. He’s smart, quick, and luckily he doesn’t take anyone’s crap. I have a feeling thought that his mouth might get in the way though.  
I’m standing on the back porch waiting for everything to be finished when I felt a hand on my left shoulder. It seemed like in that moment, that single touch made me pull out of whatever trance I was in. I turned to see who it was even though that I already knew who it was just by the touch. My eyes caught hers and she immediately smiled.  
“You alright?” She asked me and I nodded which made her smile a little bit bigger.  
“You ready for this?” I asked her.  
“Ya. Are you though?”  
“I’ve been ready for this.” I told her and if on que she wraps her arms around my torso tightly. My arms wrapped around her shoulders and we stood there like that for a while until we both heard the back door open.  
“Aye, we’re gettin’ ready to leave. You two ready?” Taylor asked us. I looked down at Izzie and she nodded.  
“Ya let’s start heading out.” Flan and Mathey were standing in the living room talking amongst themselves quietly when we walked inside.  
I stood there watching everyone for a minute before grabbing my jacket off the back of the chair to put it on. Izzie was watching me the entire time with a half-smile and a raised eye brow. Shaking my head with a faint smile, I walked over to her as she reached out her hand. We all walked out the front door of our house and started our way towards the CDC. To make it less obvious that we were up to something, I got in my wheelchair and had Izzie push me until we had to split ways.  
“Izzie, listen to me. If something happens, I want you to get out of here as fast as you possible can.”  
“Alright.” She leaned in and kissed me softly on the lips before walking over to Mathey and Taylor. I watched them disappear around the corner before Flan started pushing me.  
“So, this is going to be fun.” Flan said with the tone in his voice that drives me absolutely insane the mass majority of the time.  
“Shut up Flan.” I said while shaking my head.  
“What, I’m just saying that this is going to be fun.” He said as we began entering the crowd of people that are forming outside of the CDC. The doors are shut so apparently we were a few minutes early.  
“It’s not what you said, it’s how you said it.” I said whispering up at him as he stopped.  
“How’d I say it?”  
“Never mind Flan. Just shut up. Let’s not draw any attention to ourselves.” As I said that, I see Whit make his way towards us with a questionable stare.  
“I see that ya followin’ doctor’s orders.” I nodded and Flan coughed quietly behind me.  
“Whit, this is one of my group members, Sergeant Patrick Flannery but he goes by Flan.”  
“Nice to meet you Flan, you can call me Whit. I’m the safe zones doctor.” He says reaching his hand out to Flan to shake it. Flan accepts it and Whit ends up telling us that he needs to head inside. Apparently Whit is part of the committee that’s leading the safe zone. Not really sure what his exact role is though amongst them besides being the doctor, but only time will tell.  
“Attention everyone. Please line up in single file order and make your way into the main conference room please.” Said the man that we’ve seen a few times since being here. I can’t remember his name at all. Actually, come to think of it, I don’t think he ever gave us his name.  
One by one, we all entered the CDC and the entire place was filed within minutes. I looked around and saw Brett standing there amongst his minions. Flan stopped next to a computer desk and he sat down in front of the monitor. Locking the wheels of the chair, I continued watching Brett until a tap on my shoulder startled me. When I turned to see who it was, a young brunette woman was staring down at me.  
“Hey, you two are new here right?” Said the brunette.  
“Um, yes we are. I’m Aaron and this is one of my friends Patrick.” She barely looked at Flan when I introduced her.  
“I’m Lisa. I was wondering if you’d like to go out for a drink after this is all over.” Right then I knew what her intensions were.  
“I’d love to but unfortunately my girlfriend and I have already made plans.” As soon as I said those words, her face went from excited to annoyed within seconds.  
“But, Patrick here is available.”  
“Um, ya I am. That’s if you’d still like to get that drink.” Flan says standing up. He had a few inches on her but if I were to stand up, I have a feeling it would be even more. I tower over Izzie and the guys as it is. Mathey isn’t much shorter than me though.  
“Sure. I’ll meet you at the bar after this.” She says before turning around and finding a seat. I looked at Flan and he’s giving me an evil glare while shaking his head at me. I shrug my shoulders as we turn our attention to the stage where the man we’ve constantly been seeing begins to speak.  
It was a couple minute speech just about upcoming events within the town. I felt like I was on the verge of falling asleep listening to him but I knew that I couldn’t. I needed to be on full alert due to the fact that we had three of our guys out there working on a distraction to get Brett out of here. We waited for a few minutes until an uproar of people started cheering and out came Brett. That’s when I began my wicked smile.  
“As some of you may know, we just got a new group of survivors the other day. That group took in one of our own and will be part of their household from this point forward. Taylor Begum will be their responsibility from here on out and I know from first hand they’ll do great.” As soon as he said those words he gave me a glare and it almost seemed like he knew exactly what I was thinking.  
“With that being said. I have a big announcement that I’d like to think of it as New World Order.” That’s when we heard an explosion coming from the distance. It almost seemed like perfect timing when he said that. Everyone was beginning to panic though which wasn’t a good thing at all.  
“Everyone don’t panic. I’ll go check out what’s going on. Everyone just stay in here.” Here’s our only chance to take him down. We waiting a minute until he walked out of the doors and Flan got up to push me out the doors. Our spots that we picked were all the way in back so we could make our exit without people seeing us.  
When we got into the hallway, that’s when we started hearing Brett yell. I could make out three voices, two males and a female. Once we got close enough, I stopped Flan and got out of my wheelchair. Brett still didn’t realize we were even there which was a good thing. Taylor had Brett all wired up and by his stance he was on the verge of striking at any moment.  
That’s when I saw Brett’s hand begin to ball up. I started running directly towards them. Izzie’s eyes widened as soon as she saw me and Brett’s fist began to raise to connect with Taylor’s face. I caught him just in time before he could lay a single finger on Taylor.  
I connected my fist to Brett’s jaw a few times, but it barely stunned him. The only thing I wanted to do was get him on the ground, but that was cut short when he kicked at my prosthetic and I fell hard on the ground. He got on top of me, connected his fist to my face before reaching behind him to grab his revolver from his waist band. My heart was beating out of my chest as I looked at the barrel of his gun.  
“I knew you were going to be a fucking problem Aaron. I just didn’t think it was going to be so soon.” Brett’s eyes were red as he stared down at me.  
“If you’re going to shoot me Brett, shoot me. I don’t have anything to live for anyways.” As soon as I said that, Brett smiled and began pulling the hammer down to put the bullet into the chamber.   
That’s when he put the barrel of the gun to my forehead and quickly pulled the trigger but nothing happened. He tried again and again but still nothing happened. He turned his head and saw Flan holding the firing pin up with a smile across his face. Izzie threw me my gun and in one quick motion, I shot Brett in the head and his body went limp on top of me. My face was covered in the blood from me shooting him.   
Pushing Brett’s body off of me with help from Flan and Mathey in the process, I stood up. Looking down at what you’d call a murder scene, made me feel free. Free from the man I one called my friend so many years ago. Free from the man who caused me to lose my leg and the last ten years. The man who I wished was dead for so many years has a bullet in his head and it was from me.  
“Put your hands up!” Said a voice from behind us. We all did as we were told and put our hands up. I turned around to see who was telling us to put our hands up and it was a group of Brett’s minions.  
“Why’d you kill him?”  
“I had to.” The man that was standing closest to me lowered his gun and the men behind him followed. He nodded and we all lowered our hands in response.  
“We’ve been waiting for someone to kill that son of a bitch for a while now. None of us knew how we’d even do it or what would happen after.”  
“Well your welcome I guess.” The man nodded once again before turning around. He stopped shy of the doors that lead back into the monitor room and turned back around.  
“The job of becoming a leader is yours. It’s apparent that you can successfully due the duties of the leader of this safe zone. If not, we’ll have to find someone else but I can’t promise that they’ll take to kindly into what you’ve done here. If you choose to take on this task, you’ll need to tell these people what’s going to happen before they begin to panic even more than they currently are.” With that he turned back around and began to walk through the doors.  
“Wait.” He turned back around and walked towards me. I pulled him off to the side away from everyone.  
“If I do this, I have one simple request.”  
“And that would be?”  
“Find me a Pastor.” I said looking over at Izzie who was talking to Taylor and Mathey. She didn’t even realize I was looking at her. The man looked at her and back at me before nodding with a faint smile. He turned back around and this time we all followed him into the monitor room where everyone was waiting patiently.  
With my head held high, I followed the man to the center where I’d be making my speech to become the leader of this safe zone. Everyone stopped talking as I stopped directly in the center. The entire room was silent to the point you could almost hear everyone’s heart beating in their chests. Izzie stood by my right side while Taylor stood by my left. Mathey and Flan stood behind us with the other soldiers behind him.  
“My name is Aaron Forbes. Some of you may know me only through passing in the streets the past couple days. Your original leader Brett Albright is dead. I killed him just moments ago to keep everyone in this safe zone safe from the inside. If you’ll have me, I’ll be the leader of this safe zone. My men and I will keep you all safe until my last breath. If you don’t want to stay here and rather take your chances on the other side of the wall, so be it. I will not stop you. If you leave and get to the point where you’d like to come back, the doors are open.” As I said my final words an older man stood up and bowed, which I thought was slightly weird. Everyone else shortly followed him. Then in an instant uproar, everyone began to cheer. Izzie grabbed my hand and squeezed it slightly. This is exactly where I want to be. This is the new world order.


	28. The Truth Part 1

The Truth Part 1  
Mattie’s POV  
It’s been five weeks since Carl and I got back from being gone for those two days. I haven’t even been able to look at him the same since what my mother told me. How could we have been so stupid and not realize the consequences of what we did while we were gone. I don’t regret what we did completely, but at the same time, we should’ve been more careful. Today I’ll find out if I am or not.  
Raymond told my mother that if I’m late, it could mean because I’m stressed, which I am. Knowing that I’m only fifteen and possibly pregnant is absolutely terrifying. What’s worse is that I’ve been keeping it from Carl and my father this entire time. My mother, Raymond and Christie know, that’s it and that’s what we all discussed. The whole reason why Christie knows is because of Raymond.  
This morning when I woke up, Carl was already gone. Our relationship has been strained since we got back because of what I found out. I want to tell him, I really do but my mom is dead set against me telling him. I’m not even sure how he’d even take it. I know how my dad would take it though which is even worse thinking about how Carl would.  
One thing is certain though, if I am pregnant. This baby would have a hard life in this world. I understand that there’s been three babies that have been born in this apocalyptic world we all live in but it’s still no world that a baby should be raised in. My mom wanted me to take the plan b pills, but there was no way we’d be able to get them without raising a bunch of alarms. So it was all about the wait.  
We haven’t had any more unwelcomed surprises since we got back at least, but that’s still wishful thinking. Carl and I still haven’t told anyone about what happened in that cabin completely. We weren’t sure how to tell them. It seems like we all are keeping lies one after the other. Lies that has an endless amount of outcomes that no one knows which one might show its ugly face. I’m just hoping which ever outcome might come out of it, it won’t be a bad one.  
“Baby, it’s time.” I hear my mom say as she knocks on my door before walking in. I’m still laying down on my bed, wrapped up in a tight blanket. I’ve been keeping myself from crying these past few weeks. Just trying my hardest to stay strong and not show anyone that somethings wrong.   
Carl has noticed though at night when he has his arms wrapped tightly around me. I let out a quiet whimper under my breath as we lay there in silence. He’s tried to talk to me about what’s going on between us and everything else, but I’m not sure what to say. I brush it off saying that I’m fine, that nothing’s wrong, but I know he can see right through my lies. We both can see through each other’s lies.  
I get up and get dressed as quickly as I possibly could as my mom waits in the hallway for me. She gives me a reassuring smile as we walk down the hallway and down the stairs where I’ll find out. Raymond was walking passed the stairs as my mother and I walked down them. My heart was racing at a million miles an hour as we got closer to the infirmary. As we walked through the doors, Raymond was holding a box in his hand and that’s when I began feeling sick.  
“Make it as discreet as possible while you head to the bathroom. I highly doubt you want to deal with anyone while you have this in your possession. On the way there or back, alright?” I nod and before I left the room, my mom grabbed my hand and took the box out of my hand. I watched her take the test out of the box and she just handed me the test.  
“It’ll be a lot easier for you to hide this way. Put it in the hem of your pants. I’ll meet you outside of the bathroom. Knock when you’re done and we’ll look at the results together, if you want.”  
“Alright mama.”  
“Mattie, whatever the results are, I’ll still love you either way and so will your dad. He might not like it, but that’s only because of your age, okay.” I nod and walk out the door to the infirmary to the nearest bathroom.  
Luckily enough, I didn’t run into any unwanted attention. I did see Carl walking down the hallway, but he just nodded and carried on with whatever he was up to. I wish he was here with me right now, I don’t want to go through this alone. Leaning against the door inside the bathroom, I began feeling the tears falling down my face. Realizing that this is something that we both need to be together for, I took a deep breath and walked out the bathroom door.  
“Mattie, what are you doing?” My mom asked me as I walked out the bathroom.  
“I’m going to go find Carl.”  
“Why?” She looked confused and irritated all at the same time.  
“If there is even a slight chance that I am, he should be there for it. He needs to know. It’s been killing me the past few weeks keeping this secret…”  
“What secret?” The deep voice of my father startled both of us. When we turned to look, my dad was standing next to Rick and both of them looked absolutely confused. My heart fell to the deepest part of my stomach which nearly made me throw up right there.  
“Daryl, how about you and I go talk real fast. Mattie was just on her way to go find Carl to talk to him about something.” With that, I moved as quickly as I could past them and ran up the stairs in the direction where I last saw Carl go.  
Carl was sitting on the bed when I walked into our room with his head in his hands. He didn’t look up when I walked in because he knew exactly who it was. Closing and locking the door, I walked over to him and squatted in front of him, taking his hands in mine. I watched him look up at me and behind a faint smile, I could tell he’s hiding something as well.  
“Carl, what’s wrong?”  
“Nothing. Are you alright?”  
“Not really. Carl, I need to tell you something.” He nodded. I took a deep breath before standing up and walking away from him.  
“Mattie, your making me nervous. What the hell is going on?” I heard him stand up and walk over to me before wrapping his arms around my waist. It’s this type of closeness that he gives me that makes me calm down so I can say what I need to say.  
“Carl, I might be pregnant.” As soon as I said those words, Carl’s posture straightened. I turned around and for the first time, I think I saw complete fear in Carl’s eyes. I never thought I’d ever see the day that I’d see him this scared.  
Carl’s POV  
Time seemed to stop almost instantly when I heard those words come out of Mattie’s mouth. I never thought I’d hear her say those words, at least not for a few more years. We’re too damn young to be parents, but in this world, any day could be our last. You never know what’s waiting for you around every single corner and I know we’ve all faced that time and time again. Some of us more than others unfortunately.  
We’ve come a crossed groups that have been hidden behind walls like Woodbury or even Alexandria. Neither of those two places understood the severity of the situation beyond those walls. They acted like they were all in their own little bubble in the world and nothing on the outside could touch them. That wasn’t true though, it never was and it took the Prison falling for my group to understand. I’m still not in agreement with a few group members about going to this current safe zone.  
It wasn’t until I heard Johnathon to tell me about the leader being Mattie’s uncle that it all came to full perspective. They obviously have something good or even great going for them if they’ll flaunt them having a safe zone. We heard it all the way down in New York about this safe zone. Of course we all thought it was going to be another Terminus. For some reason though, we all felt like we were being pushed in that direction almost. Not forcefully or anything, just like there was a force within that safe zone that continued to make us head in that direction.  
“Carl? Are you alright?” Mattie’s voice took me out of the trance I was under.  
“Ya, um… When are you going to find out?”  
“I was on my way to take a test when I saw you just a little bit ago, but I thought you’d want to be there with me.” I nodded and walked closer to Mattie. Not sure how she got so far from me at all. First she was in my arms, next she was half way across the room. Cupping her face in my hands, I looked deep into her chocolate brown eyes and it seemed like everything made sense in that moment.  
“Daryl is going to fucking kill me.” I say before pulling her lips to mine and kissing her deeply. I felt Mattie’s hand move to my sides as we continued to kiss. For some reason, this seemed like the appropriate response to what’s going on. We stopped once I realized that we should probably get this done and over with. I want to know the answer and it’s obvious she wants to know as well.  
Grabbing her hand, we walked together out our bedroom and straight to the bathroom as quickly as we could without running into a single person. Mattie squeezed my hand before walking into the actual bathroom stale, closing the door behind her. It felt like an eternity before I heard the toilet flush and the door open. I watched her set the test on the counter next to us both face down.  
“What do you want it to say?” I heard her ask.  
“Honestly, I kind of hope you’re not, but at the same time, knowing that it’ll be mine. I think we could make this work. It won’t be too long until we get to New Haven.”  
“What if New Haven is like all the other safe zones Carl? What then? How are we going to raise a baby on the road? I know DJ and Judith were raised on the run pretty much, but that’s no life.” I took a deep breath before moving in front of her. Cupping her face once again in my hands to make her look up at me. Her eyes were glazed over and red from tears. It’s not often I see her cry unless she absolutely hopeless and right now, I don’t blame her what so ever.  
“You want to know how I know this place isn’t going to be like the others.” I asked her and she raised an eye brow in confusion.  
“Johnathon told me something back when we were in that cabin and you were still passed out. He showed me a picture of you, your parents and another man. The man in the picture is your uncle Aaron. He’s the leader of the New Haven safe zone.”  
“Wait, you’ve known this information for the past five weeks and you didn’t tell me or any of us?”  
“I didn’t know how to tell you or anyone else. Besides, I think you’ve been keeping this bit of information for just about as long.” Mattie took a deep breath and it seemed like we were both at a standstill. I watched her close her eyes before reaching for the test. She has a timer in her head apparently or she just decided to pick this time to look at the test. With the test in her hand face down so the results are looking at the ground, I took my spot next to her so we both could see the test at the same time. She turned it over slowly to show two lines in a slot. I heard Mattie gasp for air and her hand moving to her mouth.  
I didn’t realize what it meant until she did that and saw what two lines meant next to it. Two lines means pregnant while one line means you’re not. Taking the test out of her hand and placing on the counter next to us, I wrap her in my arms as I begin to hear her cry deep in my chest. In that moment, I knew these weren’t happy tears by the way she was clawing at my shirt to pull me closer to her. Almost spontaneously, my eyes started to tear up, but it was all cut short when the door busted open and Daryl, McKayla and my dad were standing there in the doorway.  
Mattie’s eyes widened when she saw her father standing there in the doorway being held back with force by my father. McKayla was able to maneuver her way past Daryl so she was standing in between us. She was the gauntlet that separated us because we know Daryl wouldn’t hurt McKayla just to get to me, which I wouldn’t blame him at all right now. Mattie’s mom turned and saw the test on the counter, but before I could stop her, she picked it up to look at it. She took a deep breath before walking towards Daryl and my dad to push Daryl out the door.  
Mattie and I could both hear Daryl yelling in the hallway outside of the bathroom. It was at that moment, we both knew the entire group knew about our situation. Mattie stopped crying almost instantly when Daryl busted open the door. She was left shaking furiously in my arms, unable to stop. Apparently she’s never seen her father this pissed off before.  
“We’ll be okay.” I heard her say which surprised me.  
“I know we will.”  
“I love you Carl, no matter what.” I smiled when she said that because that’s what she said when we were at the cabin.  
“I love you too Mattie, no matter what.” With that, I kissed her deeply on the lips before grabbing her hand and walking out the bathroom to come face to face with our parents. I honestly felt like I was going to throw up right then and there.


	29. The Truth Part 2

The Truth Part 2  
McKayla’s POV  
When you come face to face with the truth after denying it for so long can destroy a little piece of you. I’ve been trying my hardest to deny what my stomach was telling me these past few weeks, but it all came to full view when I picked up that white piece of hard plastic from the bathroom counter. Never thought in a million years my daughter would be in this situation at such a young age. I don’t think it’s the fact she’s pregnant that makes me terrified. It’s the fact we’re living in this world that makes me a thousand times more terrified then I’ve ever been in my entire life.  
Daryl and I were adults when we first got pregnant, but it ended quickly when our first child was taken from this world before we even got to hold him. The doctor’s didn’t know exactly what happened and why he was taken from us. I partially think it was because we knew we weren’t fully ready to have children just yet. We were still kind of young, but not as young as Carl and Mattie. This is going to be one of the longest journey’s our family has ever faced.  
I’m standing outside the bedroom where Daryl is inside right now, contemplating whether or not I even want to go inside. He’s beyond the words of pissed off and hurt right now, but honestly I can’t blame him. Mattie and I kept a huge secret from him since her and Carl got back. I doubt he hates us because of everything that happened, but it still hurts that he hasn’t talked to us about it. It’s time to get passed everything and confront the demons that’s the underlying cause of everything that’s been going on.  
Opening the door to the bedroom, I notice Daryl standing in front of the window with his arms crossed and staring aimlessly outside. He didn’t turn to look at me as I walked in and closed the door behind me. He didn’t turn to look at me when I walked up to him to wrap my arms around his waist. He didn’t even try to brush me off or try to get me off of him when I do so. He just continued to stand there like a statue staring out the window.  
I’m not even sure what he’s even staring at and I’m not even sure if he’s even staring at anything in particular. I’ve seen him do this a few times in the past twenty years of us being together. When we lost our son. When his father died and he didn’t even know his father and I were talking because I wanted to help both of them make amends with their past. He even did this when we found out that we were pregnant with Mattie because we were both afraid she would have the same fate as her brother.  
“Daryl. Are you okay?” I ask him after kissing the center of his back through his shirt. I could feel him shiver slightly as I did that and in that moment, it seemed like it pulled him out of whatever trance he was under.  
“Why didn’t you two tell me?” He finally said after a few moments.  
“I told her not to. I even told her not to tell Carl. I’m so sorry Daryl, we never meant to hurt you like this I swear.” With that he turned around after grabbing my hands and removing them from around his waist. Taking a deep breath as I looked up at his eyes which almost seemed like they were filled with rage and a slight hint of forgiveness at the same time.  
“I’m not happy at all about this situation. I’m fucking furious that you two kept this from me. I’m even more fucking furious that I even let those two stay in the same room together now. I should’ve known something like this was going to happen the moment we allowed them to stay in the same room together.”  
“Daryl, this isn’t your fault. You, me and Rick all gave them permission to stay in the same room together when we got here that first day. We all decided on the bedroom arrangements. It’s not only your fault.” I said reaching my hands up to his face, but it was cut short when he grabbed my wrists to stop me. He didn’t grab them forcefully that it would hurt me, but for some reason it still made me jump slightly as he did so. We’ve never gotten in a physical altercation because he always knew what the consequences would be, as did I. It’s always been a verbal altercations that we’ve always been in that always resulted us taking our anger out in a different ways. There’s been times that he would leave to just go for a drive and usually found himself at a bar. Him ending up at his brother’s house when Merle wasn’t in jail for one of the dozen times he was in. No matter where he went when he left, he always came home and kneeled at my side of the bed taking my hand in his before apologizing even though most of the time it wasn’t even him.  
“McKayla, what are they going to do? What are we going to do?”  
“We’ll take it one day at a time. That’s the only thing we can do. I did it when my entire world came crashing down and those things made their appearance. We made it because we had each other.” I said and with that, Daryl grabbed me and pushed his lips to mine forcefully. I’m not even sure how we ended up in this heaping mess. Both of entangled in the blankets on our bed. I’m not even sure how we even ended up on the bed either. Clothes are flying in every single direction as we become entranced in each other. Nothing in the world seemed to even matter until we heard chaos erupting once again in the house.  
This seriously needs to stop and we don’t even know exactly what is going on. We both get up and get dressed as quickly as we can. Daryl finishes before me because these past few weeks, my strength has diminished horribly. Half the time, I’m lucky if I can even talk properly without stuttering over every single word I try to say. We even ended up moving downstairs because it’s difficult for me to walk up and down them without losing my breath in the process.  
As we walk out into the hallway we hear more and more yelling. It took us a moment to realize it was Rick and Carl yelling at each other. Mattie was standing back holding DJ and Judith back as far as she possibly could before we saw fists flying through the air. Rick’s fist clashed against the right side of Carl’s jaw and he falls to the floor almost as fast. I didn’t even see Daryl leave my side to restrain Rick.  
I rushed over to Carl just almost as fast as Mattie did, but by the time we reached him, Carl was already up and walking away as quickly as he possibly could. Mattie shook her head and followed him nearly as quickly. Rick was being pushed up against the wall by Daryl forcefully as Rick was trying to push him off. Daryl is a lot stronger then Rick which is a good thing especially now. Everyone was standing around trying to figure out what to do next.  
I started to walk away, but it was cut short when my feet decided not to move. Falling down to the ground which seemed like the millionth time that’s happened these past few months, I hit the ground before anyone could save me. The last thing I could remember before hitting my head once again on a hard object, was seeing my sons face. His blue eyes widened with fear that nearly broke my heart. Then it was complete darkness.  
Daryl’s POV  
In a single moment when you think everything is going good, something always changes that. I don’t think life could ever prepare you to find out your oldest child is going to be a parent. Then again, nothing in life could prepare you for the world we all live in right now. We still have to survive through the everyday struggles, but it’s only so we can do them again the following day. The world is still as crazy or even more so then before this apocalypse.  
Half the time I’m not even sure how we even got to this point. Living like were a bunch of savages on a daily basis. Fighting the dead and living in the process while trying to hold onto the last few shreds of humanity we still might have. Having family in this world at least helps with the process of keeping your humanity intact. At least it helps for some people, others not so much.  
Rick has been on this decline for so long, half the time I forget how he was when I first met him. Then again, I hated him when I first met him because he left Merle handcuffed on top of a roof. From that moment on, I refused to let anyone in because I thought everyone was going to be dead at some point anyways. I didn’t want to have my heart ripped out of my chest for the millionth time, but it still happened.  
I’ve always been the type of man that didn’t show his emotions well at all. McKayla was the one that broke down that wall originally. I let her in and she never left once she found out everything about my past. Then again, I think from day one, she knew what was wrong with me. She was and always will be the love of my life. No matter what the future may hold for either of us, she’s it for me.  
“Dad, what happened?” Mattie said as we wait for news from Raymond which seemed like it was taking forever.  
“It’s your mama’s disease. The amount of stress she’s under I’m guessing is making it go crazy.”  
“Is she going to make it?” At that moment, Mattie’s eyes were filled with tears. I didn’t say anything, I just grabbed her and held her as close as I possibly could. That’s where we were when we both heard the door open to the infirmary. Raymond walked out and nodded with a faint smile on his face. I grabbed Mattie’s hand and we both walked together into the room where McKayla was. Her eyes were wide open with a similar faint smile that Raymond had just moments ago. Mattie rushed to her mother’s side to throw her arms around her neck.  
“What he say?”  
“I won’t be able to walk around anymore without major assistance from someone or something.”   
“I could ask Christie if you could use her dad’s wheelchair.” Mattie said and she walked out the room before either of us could tell her otherwise. Walking over to McKayla and sitting at the edge of the bed, she smiles slightly which made me laugh a bit. No matter what the situation is, she will usually find something to smile about.  
“So what happened between Carl and Rick? Did he say?”  
“Rick is mad that Mattie is pregnant. Carl said something to Rick which made him punch Carl.”  
“Daryl, this group is falling apart. I’d rather not be a part of it when that happens. We need to get to New Haven before that happens.”  
“McKayla, this group has been falling apart for a long time. Rick has his moments of weakness, but it’s never stopped him from doing what he needs to do for this group.” McKayla leaned forward and placed her hand in mine.  
“Rick doesn’t seem like he’s in the right mindset though. You’ve told me plenty of times that he’s lost it. I don’t want to be caught in the crossfire when and if that happens again. I highly doubt you want our kids to be caught in the crossfire as well.” I looked up and see McKayla’s gaze staring back at me. Taking a deep breath, I nod and think to myself about what we should do. McKayla is right to a point. Rick has lost it a hand full of times and half the time it’s taken someone dying for him to snap out of it. We sat there in silence for a few more minutes until we heard yelling fill the house once again. I stood up and shook my head. This shit is getting ridiculous. McKayla grabbed my hand before I could walk away, but I told her that I’m ending whatever is going on before it gets out of hand. That’s what I was planning on doing anyways.  
Walking down the hallway towards whatever chaos is going on now, I notice a group of people standing in the entry way of our house. As I got closer, I noticed that there eight people, six men and two women. One of the women though stood out the most from them all. They still haven’t noticed I was coming up behind them yet. Rick kept glancing to me very slowly so they wouldn’t notice as well. Looking up the stairs, I see Carl, Mattie, DJ and Judith sitting behind the railing with Carol and Christie close behind them. Michonne was standing next to Rick as was Raymond. I wasn’t sure where everyone else was though, but I knew they were most likely safe because no one would be civil right now if they weren’t. I just want to know why they are here.  
“What the hell is going on out here?” I spoke and everyone’s attention was on me then, including the woman that stood out the most. My heart felt like it was going to explode within seconds of realizing who exactly it was standing amongst them.  
“Daryl? Is that really you?” She asked me and all I could do was nod my response because I was in complete shock.  
“I haven’t seen your sorry ass since you and Merle left me behind in Atlanta. Where is that son of a bitch? I’d like to say hi.”  
“He’s dead.” I told her and instead of looking saddened by the information, she looked relieved and a little disappointed.  
“Too bad. I would’ve liked to say hi to him one last time.” With that, she turned around and joined the group again. I was still standing there until I heard McKayla yell from the room. Walking back down the hallway towards the room, I thought about what I should say. When I opened the door, McKayla was sitting up in bed with her arms crossed.  
“What’s going on?”  
“There’s a group out there needing shelter. Tanya is with them.” I didn’t have to explain who Tanya was to McKayla. She knew who she was and didn’t need to know anymore. McKayla doesn’t hate, but at the same time doesn’t like her. The past is coming back to haunt me apparently in this apocalypse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I just posted three chapters in a row. I was tired of having this one behind while the other site I use was ahead. I also use another website to post this story which is www.walkingdeadfanfiction.com I've been using it for a while now because it took me a bit to get onto this. I like that one slightly more because it's only the walking dead fan fiction.  
> I mentioned something on that site that about everything that happened in The Truth Part 1 & 2\. So I wanted to do the same thing on here just so you all know what's going through my mind. And trust me, if you knew me, you wouldn't want to be in my mind for even 5 seconds.  
> What I said over there was that Mattie is pregnant, but the whole reason why I even decided this was they needed an obstacle in their relationship. You have to realize that in the world they've been growing up in the last thing they needed to think about was having safe sex. Mattie was eleven and Carl was twelve when everything started. Their parents never even thought to even have the talk with either of them. So please bare with me on Mattie and Carl having a kid. They've matured differently from the average fifteen/sixteen-year-olds of this day and age. They know how to take care of a child due to the fact they both have younger siblings that were born in this world.  
> With that being said, I'm working on a posting schedule. I'll hopefully be posting a new chapter every single Monday because I'll have internet during that time.


	30. Group Meeting

Group Meeting  
McKayla’s POV  
Even when you don’t think the day could get any more messed up, a new group walks through your door and amongst them is someone from your past. I don’t hate her, but I also don’t entirely like her at the same time. We’ve always been like that though, so there’s nothing I can do about it. She hasn’t said a single word to me though, which I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. Either way, I don’t fully care if she’s here as long as she doesn’t cause problems. Same as everyone else in the group.  
Rick said we needed to have a group meeting to discuss the newcomers, sleeping arrangements, amongst other things. The part that I found odd was the fact they were part of the meeting. I guess with this house being a little bit small, it’s hard to keep things a secret anyways. So I guess it’s the only option we really had at the moment, but I still find it kind of odd.  
I’m sitting in the wheel chair that was originally Christie’s dads and I have to say, it’s the most uncomfortable thing ever. I’ve been used to being able to walk around during these meeting over the past few months, but with this disease progressing the way it is, we don’t need any more accidents. I’ve had a few in the past few weeks and I think the last one was the final one that made everyone completely aware of my condition. It did happen at the worse time though.  
With the new group and one of Daryl’s ex’s amongst them, it doesn’t help that I can’t walk well. I tried to take a few steps earlier, but it failed when my feet were more dragging then anything. Daryl had to pick me up and place me in the chair. The feeling of being completely useless is starting to really bug me. I guess this is just something I have to get used to.  
When the meeting was over, I watched Daryl walk away with Rick and Nicolas. Everyone else went their separate ways as well expect for one of the men from the new group. He was sitting down in one of the chairs giving me a puzzled look. He was actually an attractive black man and through some whispers apparently him and Tanya are together. I waved which apparently gave him the initiative to walk over to me.  
“I’m sorry that I was staring at you like that. I swear I’m not a creep. I was only…what’s your condition?”  
“Oh um, I have ALS. Why?”  
“I had a feeling that’s what it was based on how you’re sitting. I worked closely with a musculoskeletal Doctor at Northwestern. I was a Neurologist before this shit hit the fan and we were doing some pretty extensive research on your disease.”  
“You’re kidding me right? You’re a Neurologist.”  
“Well I was, it’s pretty hard to be one without having patients to work on, but with you and your husband’s permission, I’d like to examine you myself. I understand that you do have a doctor here, but he was only a general practitioner. I might be able to see how far your disease has progressed so far.”  
“That sounds fantastic. I’ll let you know what he says.” He nods and turns around to walk away. For the first time since my health began to diminish, I’ve never felt an ounce of relief until this day. Of course he won’t have the cure for this disease, but he still might know how far along I am and how long I might have. I’m just hoping that Daryl will say yes to this. I’m praying that he’ll say yes to this.  
Daryl’s POV  
After the meeting, I got pulled away with Rick and Nicolas. There’s something about this guy that I do not like. His brother Pedro isn’t much better either and honestly I’m not even I like his kid all that much. He keeps eying Mattie like she’s just a piece of meat. I know Carl will protect her as much as he physically can, well hopefully better than he did previously.  
We’re standing in the sunroom of the house that’s just off the back patio. We’re discussing sleeping arrangement for the new guests. I’m not even sure if I want them here. I’m not even sure if I even want Tanya here because of what happened back in Atlanta. How could I have been so stupid not to go back for her then?  
“Daryl, how do you feel about the kids from Nicolas’ group staying in the room with Carl and Mattie?”  
“Absolutely not. I will not have them in the same room with my daughter Rick. Are ya fuckin’ nuts?”  
“Nicolas, can you leave us for a minute please?” He nods and through pierced lips he walks away leaving Rick and I to talk alone.  
“Daryl, I’m trying to trust people again. I really am. What is it about these people you don’t like?”  
“It’s not that I don’t like them, I just don’t trust them. I especially don’t trust Pedro. Not around the women. There’s jus’ somethin’ bout him that I jus’ wanna put a damn bullet in his head and call it a day.” Rick has his hand on his hip like he always does when he begins to think about something. It’s a habit that we’ve all began to realize that it’s more of his cop coming out than anything else.  
“Daryl, we don’t have anywhere else to put them. Carl will keep her safe you know that.”  
“Ya like he kept her safe by knocking her up.” That’s the first time I’ve ever full blown came out to say my daughter is pregnant. I kept trying to deny it this past twenty four hours since we found out, but it’s like with everything that’s happened, I’m beginning to realize that it really is happening.  
“You can’t put the full blame on Carl, Daryl. It ain’t fair and ya know it. We all should’ve taught our children the right and wrongs, but this world got us all screwed up in the head and we forgot the important things in life. Hell we’ve all made mistakes that we probably wouldn’t have done in the old world.” I nod my head because I know he’s right, but I don’t want to fully say he was right. When I think back to before meeting this group, back when my only mission was to find my family, I would’ve done just about anything for them and still will. There’s only a few of us left from the original group now, and we just keep adding onto it.  
Half the time it’s not the walkers that will kill you, it’s living and breathing people. It’s the hunger and the thirst. It’s the absolute stupidity that will do the same thing. Some people don’t know how to trust their primal instincts anymore because we all got domesticated like we’re just a bunch of stupid rats chasing after a piece of cheese in a maze for a science experiment. That’s exactly what we are, we’re a science experiment that someone decided to create and see how we’d survive.  
“Rick, it seems to me that the decision was already made before stepping into this room. If you think for a second that you can trust these people, you might as well put a damn bullet in your head yourself.” I say before turning around and walking back inside the main house. I didn’t even stop there, I went straight to my room where McKayla already was. The one woman in my life that I know I can trust.  
Carl’s POV  
My dad told me that Avery, David and Marcos will be sharing mine and Mattie’s room for a while. I was a little surprised by that decision since it seemed to me that Daryl didn’t care for the group at all. I’m still trying to figure out how I feel about them as well. All eight of them have different factors that kind of throws me off. Not sure how they even got together in the first place, well most of them anyways.  
The only thing I know is, Marcos saved Avery and she’s like glued to his side. Mattie said she’s like a lost puppy or something like that. David on the other hand, he can’t seem to keep his eyes off of Avery and Marcos half the time. I’ve even found myself seeing Marcos staring at David from across the room which was a little weird and I’m not sure what that even means. With Mattie and I sharing a room with those three, who knows what we’ll figure out.  
Running up the stairs, taking the steps two at a time, I make my way to the bedroom. I needed to grab something before taking a shower that I didn’t tell Mattie. She usually grabs a set of clothes for each of us and the shower bag when she heads in there. I found something when we were at the cabin that I didn’t have a chance to use yet, but when I opened the door to the room, I couldn’t believe my eyes.  
Marcos had his hand on David’s cheek while David’s hands were on Marcos’ hips. David leaned in closer and their lips pressed against each other’s. That’s when I decided that what I needed to get could wait. Whatever is going on between those two, just made me think back to Alexandria with Aaron and Eric. It became apparent that those two weren’t only friends, but they were boyfriends. That was a very awkward conversation with my father when I asked him about it.  
Knocking on the door of the bathroom, Mattie answered with a towel wrapped around her tightly. I smiled and I look both ways before joining her. It’s not often that we even get to have this privacy anymore. With everything that’s going on today though, this should give us the perfect opportunity to have just a little bit of fun.  
“Carl, why do you look pale?”  
“Oh, um. I just saw something that just made me a little bit confused.”  
“Which was?”  
“David and Marcos kissing in our room.” With that, Mattie’s hands fly up to her mouth which makes her towel fall straight down to the floor revealing her already protruding stomach. She quickly bends down to grab her towel and wraps it back around her.  
“You’re already showing.”  
“Yea, Raymond thinks it’s because of how small I am.” I walk over to her and wrap my hands around her waist to pull her closer to me. Moving my hands between us, I undo the towel that she wrapped around her to have it fall once again to the floor.  
“Let’s take a shower.” I tell her as I reach down to take off my shirt in one swift move. She smiles and I see her quickly turn around to start the shower as I finish taking off my clothes. Her skin is already soaked by the time I slip my hands around her waist to kiss her under the cascading water above us. Kneeling down slowly, I kiss her stomach and look back up to her. She smiles and tugs me back up to kiss me one last time before we know we need to wash up before someone starts to look for us.  
Mattie’s POV  
After Carl and I finish taking our shower together which was actually the first time we ever took one together, we quickly get dressed and head downstairs. We have a tendency of being in the bathroom together when one of us are in the shower, just so it takes less time and we don’t have to keep shutting off the water between each shower. Tonight though was different and honestly it was sort of sweet at the same time. We didn’t really do anything, just kissed under the water. I can’t believe Carl kissed my already protruding stomach though.  
Once we got downstairs, Carl grabbed my hand and led both of us to the table where our bowls were already filled. We sat next to our parents and my mom smiled at me as she continued to get DJ to eat the food. I looked in the bowl and I’m guessing its beef stew. It doesn’t really look all that appetizing, but beggars can’t be choosers. So I took a spoon full of food and ate some.  
I looked at Carl with wide eyes and apparently he knew exactly what I was thinking. He grabbed me and we both ran directly to the bathroom before everything that I’ve had to eat today came up. I knelt down in front of the toilet bowl just in time and Carl held my hair back while rubbing my back in the process. After I was finished, he handed me something to wipe my face off with and we both sat on the cool tile before joining everyone else again.  
“You alright?” He asks and I nod while I lay on his lap.  
“Ya, that food just didn’t agree with me at all.”  
“Or the food didn’t agree with the baby at all.” He said which made me chuckle a little bit.  
“Can I get you something?” He asks and I shift slightly in his lap to look up at him.  
“Could you ask Carol if we have any saltines? I don’t care if there stale at all.” He nods and kisses me on the forehead before standing up.  
“I’ll reassure your parents that you’re alright. Meet me upstairs?” I smile and nod at him. Then he leaves me in the bathroom. I took that time to freshen up a little bit by washing out my mouth with the mouth wash that belongs to someone in the house. I highly doubt they’ll mind if I used a little bit. Once I was done in the bathroom, I walk out and run right into Pedro. He’s an older man that seriously creeps me out. I’ve heard that my dad doesn’t like him much and I’m not sure why exactly, but I’m starting to kind of understand. I try to move out of his way, but he moves in that direction.  
“Can I please move passed?”  
“What’s the hurry?”  
“I don’t feel comfortable right now, nor do I feel good. So please get out of my way.”  
“You’re a feisty little thing. I like that.” He says as he moves closer.  
“Pedro!” I heard Nicolas yell from down the hall. Pedro looked annoyed when his brother yelled at him. He winked and did this kissing motion with his lips that made me want to throw up again. I see Carl at the other end with a box of saltines. Running down the hallway towards him, I throw my arms around his neck and I think he knew something was up, but he didn’t ask. I think that was a good thing that he didn’t.


	31. Roommates

Roommates  
Carl’s POV  
I asked Carol for the saltines and luckily enough we had a few boxes left from when Maggie was pregnant. Carol nodded because by this time everyone knew except the new group. She didn’t say anything though when I asked her at least. I’m not even sure if anyone will say anything about Mattie being pregnant or me being the one who knocked her up. Still fully can’t believe she actually is though.  
When I started heading back towards Mattie, I saw Avery, David and Marcos heading upstairs. I’m still not even sure how I feel about sharing a room with those three at all. There’s something up with those three and it’s extremely weird. Either way, I’m telling Mattie that she’s sleeping by the wall. I want to keep her as safe as possible and I think that’s the only way I’ll be able to right now.  
Once I turned the corner to head to the bathroom, I see Pedro standing just outside of the bathroom and him moving side to side. Then Nicolas yelling at him from the opposite side of the hall. It pissed me off when I saw it was Mattie that he was blocking. If it wasn’t for her being pregnant, I’d charge him right now. Actually I probably wouldn’t charge at him anyway for the simple fact we’re trying to be civil so we don’t shed blood.  
Something happened though because Mattie began running down the hallway towards me and threw her arms around my neck. She nearly knocked me over because I wasn’t fully prepared for her to do it at all. I didn’t ask her what happened with Pedro because honestly, I knew I wouldn’t like the answer. Whatever happened though, she seems to be a little off. I’ll figure it out at some point though.  
“Hey before we get in our room, I want you to sleep on the inside tonight.”  
“Alright, but why?”  
“I don’t trust them and if you sleep on the inside, it’ll be harder for them to get to you or anyone actually.”  
“Carl, you are so paranoid just like your father and mine.” She says grabbing my hand and linking her fingers through mine. Leaning up slightly she kisses me cheek and we continue up the stairs to our room.  
I might be paranoid, but it’s obvious that my dad isn’t as paranoid as Daryl and I. My dad’s been slipping ever since Alexandria. I’m not sure what exactly happened that made him slip up this bad, but it’s like every move we make to head towards New Haven, we end up take ten steps back at the same time. I just want to get there and I think Mattie wants to get there even more based on the new information I told her earlier.  
Once we got in our room, we saw Avery, David and Marcos throwing clothes back and forth at each other. Not really sure why they were doing that, but Mattie just walked in like it wasn’t unusual at all. I have a feeling that Mattie is better around new people than me. I’m shyer as it is anyways and I have been for a long time. Mattie, on the other hand, she’s social and can strike up a conversation with absolutely anyone.  
“Hey. Carl right?” Marcos asked.  
“Yes?”  
“We were trying to figure out which bunk we can take.”  
“Oh um, Mattie and I sleep on the bottom. So you guys can take the top if you’d like.”  
“Wait, your parents allow you two to sleep with each other?” Avery asks as she takes off her top in front of everyone. I immediately turn around and look directly at Mattie. Mattie looked as shocked as I was.  
“Oh sorry. Got used to changing in front of these two, didn’t think about you two.” She apologized.  
“It’s fine. Carl is just kind of shy and we weren’t expecting to see you so open.” Mattie said and I heard Avery giggled faintly from behind me. I walked over to my dresser to grab a black tank. Mattie is already in her sleepwear because she didn’t really get dressed today besides throwing on sweats this morning.  
“So how did you two meet anyways?” I heard Avery ask as I took off my t-shirt to put on the tank. I looked at Mattie and she smiled at me.  
“Daryl and I were at a department store warehouse a few months back when we met. She got attacked by a walker and I saved her.”  
“Ya and then you helped me up and shoved me up against a wall.”  
“Hey, to be fair, you did knock me down and had a knife to my throat after that. Twice actually.” I said and Mattie smiled while she started to chuckle under her breath.  
“Wait, Daryl is Mattie’s dad right. Why weren’t you guys with him in the first place?” With that question, Mattie looked down and it almost seemed like she was on the verge of shutting down in the process.  
“Her father and her two uncles were on a hunting trip when everything happened. They were separated for four years.” I took that opportunity to answer for Mattie because I highly doubted that she was even going to say anything. I watched Mattie crawl onto the bottom bunk and faced the wall as she covered herself up.  
“Avery, let’s not butt into their business any more than we already have.” Marcos said and I watched Avery put her hands up in defense before climbing up on the top bunk. Marcos shot a look at David and David nodded. Next thing I knew, Marcos climbed up on the top bunk with Avery. David made a bed on the floor with extra blankets that we had around the house. I feel kind of bad for him since we all have a bed to sleep on, but that’s not the worse place I’ve ever slept before. Shutting off the light after everyone was in their sleeping spots, I walked over to the bed to lay down next to Mattie. She’s either trying to hold back tears or she’s just that cold so she’s shivering. Climbing under the comforter, I wrap my arm around her waist and realize she’s just shivering. I think she’s getting used to my body heat or something because she immediately warmed up and stopped shivering.  
“Good night Mattie.” I say before moving some of her hair out of the way and kissing the back of her neck. She turned slightly to face me and smiled before kissing me.  
“Good night Carl.” She says after kissing me. I kiss her one last time before she rolled back over and snuggled up closely to me. It through me off for a minute when she decided to wiggle wrong that made me move back a little bit. That’s when I heard her laugh quietly just so I can hear her. I knew she did it on purpose.  
Mattie’s POV  
I’m not sure if it’s because I’m hot or it’s the simple fact that Carl and I aren’t alone in this room that I can’t sleep. I keep tossing and turning every few minutes just trying my hardest to find a comfortable position, but nothing seems to help. It could also be the fact that Carl is sleeping in my spot because he doesn’t trust Avery, David and Marcos entirely. Not sure if I blame him either because I’m not sure how I feel about them either.  
Sitting up in the bed for a few minutes seemed to help slightly though, but it did wake up Carl. He looked up at me with a raised eyebrow. I leaned down to kiss him which gave him the opportunity to grab me so I’m laying across him in his arms. At that moment, it seemed like in his arms is when I’m the most comfortable for some reason. He sat up slightly against the back of the bed after propping a pillow so the wood frame wasn’t so hard on him.  
“I take it that you can’t sleep?” He asks me quietly as he continued to hold me.  
“Ya. I seriously can’t find a position that makes me stay asleep.” I answered and nuzzled farther in his chest.  
“Anything I can do?” He asks and it was in that moment that the wheels in my head started turning. I shifted slightly so I could kiss down his jaw to his neck. He tensed for a minute before moving his hand up and down my back.  
“Are you sure you want to start this right now with them in here?” I realized then that it probably wouldn’t be a good idea, but I got myself worked up a little bit which sort of sucks.  
“You do have a point, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t have a little bit of fun as long as we stay quiet.” I tell him and I went back to doing what I was doing before which made him tighten his grip around my waist. His hand moved down to move my shirt up slightly so his hand was on my skin. My skin is soft compared to Carl’s hands which I’ve noticed from day one. He says that it’s mainly because of when him and his father were playing farmer at the prison.  
He doesn’t talk about the time they were staying at the prison and honestly I don’t blame him. That’s where Judith was born and where his mother died. He said during the time after his mother died, his dad was extremely distant and messed up. My mom said that it seems like he’s still not all there. Once again, I don’t blame him for being that way. I would be that way too.  
“So what kind of fun did you have in mind exactly?” He asks me and instead of answering him, I shifted so I was now straddling him. Wrapping my arms around his neck, I begin to kiss him and his hands began to move up my back taking my shirt with it. I wanted to take it off as well as his, but if we were to get caught be either of them, I’d rather not get caught being half naked.  
“Mattie we probably shouldn’t do this here.”  
“Well do you have a place in mind?” I said kissing his neck again.  
“We need to go back to bed Mattie. I’m leaving tomorrow morning with Eugene, Christie and Glenn.”  
“Are you serious? Why are you telling me this now?”  
“I didn’t know how to tell you because with everything that’s been going on, I really don’t want to leave you here with…” And he just looks up. I know what he means without even saying it.  
“I’m surprised Maggie is even letting Glenn leave so soon after Bethany being born.”  
“Ya.” For some reason, a majority of the group shuts down when someone mentions Beth. I find it weird, but sort of understandable. No one talks about her though and that was Maggie’s sister. I don’t even know how she died.  
“Carl, can I ask you a question without you getting defensive or mad?”  
“Of course you can? What makes you think I’d get mad?”  
“What happened to Beth?” With that, he shifted slightly like he wanted to get away, but instead he shifted just so he can sit up more. His lips went into a straight line and he ran his hand threw his hair.  
“When the Governor attacked the prison we all escaped into different groups. Beth escaped with your dad. We thought Beth was dead because there was no way she could’ve survived on her own. She was too innocent. Your dad and Beth were alone for a while.” He said, but paused for a minute to possibly collect himself for a minute. I moved so I’m laying against him with my ear pressed against his chest. I could hear his heart beating faster with each passing moment. He wrapped his arms around me before he started speaking again.  
“Beth was taken by these people from Atlanta, they had a hospital, but we didn’t know anything for a while. When we figured out where she was, my dad, your dad, Tyrese, Sasha, and Noah went to save her and Carol from them. She was shot in the head by the leader of the group, I think her name was Dawn.” My heart sank when he said all of this like it was scripted, but I knew it was something that he was forcing out and trying his hardest not to let his emotions show. I sat up and that’s when I saw a tear escaping his eye from the small amount of moonlight coming through the window. I reached up to wipe it away, but he grabbed my hand.  
“She was gone before we even got a chance to have our group back together even for a short time. I heard Maggie screaming from the fire engine, but it wasn’t until I got out of it, that I knew what was going on. Daryl was carrying Beth in his arms and her body was just limp. I didn’t even see the blood right away, but when I did…” I stopped him from saying anything else because it seemed like he was on the verge of breaking down at any moment. This isn’t something I want to hear anymore. I asked for the simple fact I just wanted to know, but now that I know, I wish I could forget it.  
“I’m so sorry for asking, Carl. I didn’t think that it would hurt you this much.”  
“Mattie, out of everything I’ve been through these past four years. Only two times did I ever feel completely useless.” I lump formed in my throat and I tried to my hardest to swallow it.  
“The day my mother died from having Judith…and when I thought you were going to die. I was in a dark place for a while after my mother died and I thought I was going to go back there if you were to die. You weren’t waking up, you had a fever. If you were to die and turn, I don’t think I would’ve been able to do it. I would’ve probably let you bite me because I don’t think I could live without you.” I wrapped my arms around his neck as hard as I possibly could without hurting him in the process. Every word he just said will always be engraved in my memory. He’s it for me and it’s obvious that I’m it for him.


	32. Nightmare

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See End Notes for a special announcement

Daryl’s POV  
These dreams I’ve been getting a few months after Beth died usually starts the same. It starts off with us running together after the prison falling because of the Governor. Then us laying in the field for a few minutes to catch our breaths. They always end differently though, but for some reason, I always hear her singing at some point. I do miss her singing, even though I told her countless times that it was annoying. I lied to her though when I told her that her singing was annoying. Honestly, I thought it was soothing, but her singing always made me think of morning with McKayla and Mattie when they would make breakfast and sing. So I always said it was annoying. It wasn’t until I missed her singing that I realized that it wasn’t annoying at all though. That’s where I’m at tonight, laying in the field. My chest heavy from running which seemed like we were running for miles away from everything. Beth sprawled out next to me trying to catch her breath. The sun beating down on the both of us. Our energy draining with each passing second, but we both knew that we had to keep going.  
“Are we close?” Is the first sentence I heard her say. That sentence that starts off the time loop of our lives together after the prison falling and before she was taken from me.  
“Almost done.” I can still remember me saying that to her like it was yesterday.  
“How do you know?” I can still smell her hair as I stood just a few inches behind her as she was aiming my crossbow.  
“The signs are all there. Just got to know how to read ‘em.” My heart usually sinks as she says this because I remember what she said next.  
“I’m getting good at this. Pretty soon I won’t need you at all.” Then she walks away. Out of my sight and I’m faced with trying to find her again.  
It wasn’t like it this time though. It goes back to when we’re back at the prison and I’m telling her about Zack. She didn’t cry which I partially understood. I still remembered when she hugged me though, it wasn’t tight like it was outside of the cabin after my outburst.  
“I’m glad I didn’t say goodbye. I hate goodbyes.” And my heart nearly shatters into a million pieces because it’s true, she hated goodbyes. I tried my hardest not show my emotions for so long that half the time I forgot that I even had them.  
“Me too.” Then I was off to witness another conversation we had that once again seemed like a million years ago. This time seemed different though because I’m standing back in that field again and she’s standing a couple yards away from me. She’s not dressed in her blood stained clothes like she was when we were here the first time. She’s wearing a long blue satin dress that’s swaying in the wind. Her hair is down and hanging down passed her shoulders. I watch her smile as she moves closer to me and without even realizing it, I’m walking towards her as well. A minute later we’re standing face to face. Then her hand comes up to touch my face and an electric charge goes straight through me.  
“Daryl.” She said and that’s when I realized that I wasn’t reliving a memory of Beth and I. She was really here standing in front of me.  
“You’re here aren’t you?” She didn’t say anything though. She just smiled.  
“How long do we have?” I ask her and she looks up at me before smiling.  
“Not long at all.” A tear escaped one of her eyes and my first reaction was to hold her. I wrapped my arms around her waist just as she wrapped her arms around my neck. We were standing there for a few moments, listening to the birds chirping in the distance, the wind blowing past us with the smell of nature in the mixture.  
“Why’d you do it Beth?” I asked her as we looked each other in the eyes. I moved one of my hands to place it on her face to wipe away one of her tears. She removed both of her hands from around my neck to place them around my waist.  
“She had to be stopped. I wanted whoever was to come in next to be safe. I knew that I wasn’t going to walk out of there Daryl and I’m sorry for that. I never wanted to leave you, but I had to. You needed to find your family. So I gave you the signs in order to find them.” I stared at her for a minute trying to figure out how she knew.  
“Daryl, I might’ve been young, but I wasn’t dumb. I knew you had a family. It all came into focus the first time you held Judith to calm her down. I think everyone else was oblivious.” As soon as she said that, I tear escaped my eyes and I tried my hardest to contain it, but she knew. Her hand moved up and wiped it away which made me close my eyes. Then, just as the sun began to go down, her lips touched mine for a just a second. When I opened my eyes, I was back in my room and McKayla was awake staring at me.  
“What the hell were you dreaming about, Daryl?” She said with a faint smile, but confused look on her face. I was a little speechless and I wasn’t sure what I should say at all.  
“Um, just had a weird dream.”  
“Daryl, you were sort of whimpering. When I woke up you had a tear that was falling down your face. I figured if I were to wipe it away and maybe kiss you, you’d wake up. Apparently it worked. Are you okay?” When McKayla told me that, I realized that I was dreaming about Beth, but what she did in my dream, McKayla was doing to me out of the dream. I looked at McKayla which was staring back at me with wide eyes.  
“McKayla, I need to tell you something, but I’m not sure how to tell you without you getting pissed off.” I tell her and she ended up raising an eyebrow before taking the cover and pulling it up more.  
“The dream I just had was about Beth, Maggie’s sister. It happens once in a while, but this one was a little bit different. Most of the time it just goes over the conversations we had. Sometimes she sings to me like she did back at the funeral home we were holding up in for a couple days.” McKayla’s eyes widened even more and her mouth dropped open. I wasn’t even sure if she was breathing until I saw her close it and she took a deep breath.  
“Daryl, I know about the time you and Beth spent together, but the one thing I don’t know, is if you loved her. Did you?” I was speechless when she asked that because I wasn’t sure if I did or not. Maggie said it before, but I blew it off. I love McKayla, I’m a hundred percent positive about that. Beth, I’m not sure if I do or not. That’s the one thing I never knew or wanted to admit if I did, but now I need to figure it out no matter what the consequences might be.  
McKayla’s POV  
From the first time I saw this man I call my husband, I’ve been absolutely head over heels in love with him. There’s nothing he could do that would make me change my feelings for him. We’ve shared a life together, built a life together, created life together. He’s mine, just like I am his. Every time I look at him, brings me back to that day when we first met and I melt.  
Just like in every marriage or relationship, there’s ups and downs. We’ve had a few, but nothing has ever prepared me for finding something like this out. I’ve had my speculations with how everyone walks on egg shells whenever her name was mentioned. Even when Daryl looks over at Maggie and the baby, his face goes straight. I haven’t asked him about her though until tonight because of that dream that woke me up.  
Now he’s just staring back at me with wide eyes. I can hardly see the color, but they look almost grey. The worst part is, he’s not even avoiding eye contact and it feels like part of me is beginning to fall apart. I just want to know the answer that I have the feeling that I might already know. It’s just something that I need to know.  
“McKayla, I’m not sure how to answer.” He finally says after a couple minutes of complete silence.  
“Just tell me the truth.”  
“That’s the thing baby, I don’t know what the truth is. Beth and I were alone for a while. We talked, which isn’t something that I did. The first time I saw her, for a minute I thought it was you. Then my eyes adjusted and I realized that it wasn’t.” That’s when he sat up and put his hand on my cheek.  
“Nothing ever happened between Beth and I. We spent a lot of time together after the prison fell and we were sent out there on our own. We just got close, that’s all. I swear.” He said as he wiped away a couple stray tears that were falling down my cheeks. I took a deep breath before leaning in and giving him a hug. That’s when we heard someone knocking on the door. Daryl got up and answered it to find Rick was standing on the other side. A minute later, Daryl was out the door and I was left to figure out the rest of the pieces. I’ve never been the kind to be jealous, but when there’s something that Daryl isn’t telling me, then I have a tendency to worry. He used to do that a long time ago, back when we first got together. He shut down and it was difficult to break through that wall of his. I finally managed to do it though, eventually. I just never thought we’d be back there again.  
Recently I’ve been leaving a change of clothes as close to the bed as possible so I can change in bed. Changing by myself is sometimes a difficult task especially when my hands don’t like to function. My legs are sometimes just as bad. I’ve noticed a few times over the past few days that my speech has become impaired and Carol has even noticed it a few times. That’s when she usually pulls me away from everyone for a minute just so I can collect myself.  
Carol and I have become close over the past several months. At first I was hesitant on becoming friends with the members of the group, but Carol has helped me out so much that we’ve became close. Daryl seems to like the fact that I’m trying to get used to being part of this group when my mind is telling me not to. I know what happens to groups because I’ve been part of a few. Either the leader goes nuts, a herd moves in and wipes us out, or another group slaughters us off one by one. It happened before and it could happen again.  
After I got getting dressed, I moved myself to the wheelchair that originally belonged to Antonio. I miss that man sometimes, especially when someone did something wrong and he started yelling in Spanish at everyone. I’m not sure how many of the group members could understand, but I could since I took Spanish all through high school. The foul language that man used, would make a nun turn over in her grave.  
Wheeling myself down the hallway, I run into Aiden which was coming out of his room. Through the crack of the door, I could see Tanya getting dressed. Having her around right now seems to complicate things. Never thought I’d see her again. I don’t think Daryl thought he’d see her again.  
“Good morning McKayla. What did your husband say about me giving you an exam?”  
“Um, I didn’t ask, but I don’t see a problem with it all.” I say with a faint smile. I watched him raise an eyebrow as I said that, but he eventually nodded.  
“Where can we do the exam?” He asked and I told him the infirmary will do fine, especially since there’s no locks. I started to wheel myself in that direction until he started pushing me instead. We rolled through the living room area and that’s when Carol gave me a questionable look. I nodded slightly so that she can see and not Aiden. It’s not that I don’t trust him, but it’s just a precaution. Once we got to the infirmary, Aiden helped me up on the table. Climbing up on tables, especially ones that come up past my hips, are difficult to get up on. He starts checking out the strength in my hands, then my arms eventually making his way down to my feet and legs. He told me that he needed to check the range of motion with each part of my body in the process. Plus having me walk a few steps around the room. I think it makes me feel a little weird when it seemed like he was trying to see how flexible I am.  
“Well, do you want the good news or the bad news first?” That’s when my heart seemed to drop to the pit of my stomach.  
“Just tell me.”  
“The strength in your fingers and hands are at the most thirty percent. Your legs aren’t that much better. I even noticed your speech is becoming impaired as well as your breathing. McKayla, once you start having issues breathing, there’s not much anyone can do for you.”  
“Aiden, I already know all of this. My mother had the same disease I have. The only difference is, I’m living in a time where faith or medicine can’t even save my life. I’ve known that my disease has been progressing rapidly, but it hasn’t stopped me yet. The only thing I want to do is to get to that community in Maine and live out the rest of my days as safe as humanely possible.” I told him with a smile.  
“McKayla, I understand that’s what you want to do, but you have to realize that you might not be able to. Your breathing could fail you in the middle of the night and your husband might not even realize it. You could be dead, turn and in the process kill him.”  
“You don’t think I already know that? I’ve been afraid of becoming one of those things from day one. There’s nothing any of us can do, but wait. Wait till it’s all over, and hope and pray that there is another side. If there isn’t, then oh well.” As soon as I said that, he nodded and helped me off the table and back into the wheelchair. He rolled me out, but once he saw Carol, he left me with her. I knew what I was going to hear when I came in there. There was nothing that he could tell me that I already didn’t know. Hopefully I’ll last long enough to get to Maine…hopefully.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some amazing news are beginning to brew and it's currently in progress.  
> I've been asked to join in the Mary Big Bang original character fan fiction challenge that started July 1st.  
> I've been constantly writing and I have a storyline already in progress. So stay tuned for more information and when you'll be able to read it.


	33. Black Ice

Black Ice  
Mattie’s POV  
After mine and Carl’s late night, early morning conversation, I fell asleep in his arms. I woke up again to find that he was no longer beside me and I was completely alone. Waking up alone scares me sometimes, especially when I don’t always realize where I am right away. I don’t go into panic mode at least which is a good thing. I have a feeling that eventually, that might change.  
I’m head over heels, hopelessly in love with Carl that it almost seems like it’s going to tear me in two. I never thought I was going to find love in this world. I never thought that I would meet someone that made nearly all of my demons go away as well as his in the process. I especially never thought I’d be pregnant rather being fifteen or even older than that. It just never seemed possible until I met him.  
Walking out the bedroom, I hear laughing coming from downstairs and that’s when I see Carl running up the stairs. He nearly crashed right into me before noticing that I was even there. I smiled as he moved passed me before kissing me on the cheek. Shaking my head, I head downstairs to see everyone eating breakfast and surprisingly getting along with everyone from the new group.  
“Hey your Mattie right?” Asked one of the newcomers.  
“Um yes.”  
“I’m Tanya. I grew up with your father and partially your mother as well. Just wanted to introduce myself as formally as possible.” She said before moving past me. I shook my head and began walking until I felt a set of arms wrapping around my waist. I knew instantly that it was Carl as soon as he kissed my neck. Everyone is in a playful mood this morning apparently. Carl and I walk to a seat and he pulled me down so I was sitting on his lap. My dad gave both of a glare, but my mom grabbed his hand to reassure him. There was a decent spread of food set out in front of us. Fruit, powdered eggs, bacon and homemade bread that Carol made. The joys of having electricity for as limited as it might be. That’s when I felt his hand on my lower abdomen.  
“Got any requests for when I go on the run?” Carl whispered in my ear.  
“Ya, come back in one piece.” I responded and he responded by grabbing my left hand to kiss it. I want to go with him so bad, just to get out of here would be amazing. Maybe I can talk to my mom about going. I already know who’s all going on the run today. Christie wants to find solar panels as well as Eugene, so they’ll be coming. Glenn is going as well because of how quick and efficient he is. Apparently the whole reason why Carl is going is because of how well of a shot he is, which I didn’t know. After breakfast, I started to look for my mom which disappeared sometime during breakfast as well as my dad. Hopefully I don’t walk in on them like I did before. Knocking on the door to their bedroom, my dad answers and moves out of the way to invite me in. My mom was sitting up in her bed reading a book. Wasn’t sure what it is because there’s not cover due to the fact it’s a hard cover.  
“What’s going on sweetie?” My mom asks as I sit down on the bed.  
“I want to go on the run with them today. I hate being cooped up in the house. I promise I’ll be careful.” My mom looks directly at my dad and his face looks worried beyond no point.  
“Mattie, I’m not sure if that’s such a good idea with you being, you know.”  
“Mom, if I recall, you were still doing runs right up to you having DJ.” I told her and her mouth went in a straight line.  
“That’s because I didn’t have a choice and you were too young to do it by yourself.” When she said that, she looked up at my dad which was leaning up against the headboard with his arms crossed. He didn’t look happy at all with the request of going out on a run, but he’ll live. I watched as my mom leaned up to him to whisper something in his ear and then him shrugging slightly.  
“You listen to what they have to say. You do not go off on your own. You stay next to Carl at all times. I know you can shoot, but use it wisely. Use your knife as much as possible. Just be careful.” My mom said and I leaned forward to give both of them a hug at the same time.  
“Thank you guys.” I said giving them both a kiss on the cheek.  
“Now go before we change our minds. They’re leaving soon so hurry up and get ready. Your dad will get your gun ready as well as the bow which I know you like using more than anything half the time.” She said and I ran out the door to start getting ready. When I got to the bedroom, Carl was in there shirtless getting his bag ready. I walked over to my dresser to pull out clothes and a few other things before grabbing my bag.  
“What the hell are you doing?” He asked me when I put my bag next to him.  
“I’m going with you guys.” I told him and his eyebrow raised. I smiled before placing my hand on his chest. His right hand goes over mine as he wraps the other one around the back of my head to pull me in for a kiss. The hand that was on mine, moved down to my side to pull me closer to him. We stood there kissing in the center of the bedroom until we heard knocking on the door. His dad was there to tell him everyone is just about ready. We finished getting ready quickly and headed down the stairs. When we got down there, my dad handed me everything that I needed with a stern look on his face. I watched as Rick handed Carl keys to one of the vehicles which confused me for a minute until I remembered that Carl has been driving one of the vehicles for a while now during the runs. My mom kissed me quickly on the cheek before I joined everyone as they walked out the door.  
I got in the one of the vehicles to realize that it’s going to Carl and I alone in one. Eugene, Christie and Glenn got in the vehicle that was parked behind us. We waiting for a minute as it began to back up and nearly get stuck from the semi melted snow and mud off the driveway. Luckily enough Glenn got it unstuck and they began driving up the driveway, we shortly followed them. When we reached the road, Glenn radioed in to tell us to wait a few seconds before following.  
“Ready?” Carl said after we saw the first vehicle begin to disappear slightly in the distance.  
“Ya, I just can’t believe you’re driving.”  
“I’m a good driver. Your dad wouldn’t let me drive if he knew I was bad at it. Plus he taught me.” He said grabbing my hand and kissing the knuckles as he begins to drive away from what we’ve been calling home. This is the first time I’ve willingly been away from there since I walked through those doors nearly four months ago. Now I can’t help but think of what could’ve happened if my mom and I didn’t stop there that day or they didn’t go to that department store. I never thought I’d ever be this happy in this world.  
Carl’s POV  
I’ve had an idea in my head for a while since I know Mattie’s birthday is coming up soon. McKayla told me that she was born on Christmas Eve so I want to get her a birthday present and a Christmas present. I’m just not really sure what I’m going to get her and time is beginning to run out. At least I think it is. It’s really hard to know the date when you don’t have a way to figure it out.  
The worst part is, I have no idea where we’re even going. I’m not sure if I’ll even be able to find her something while we’re on this run either or if she’ll even leave my side momentarily so I can look for something. I might have to get someone’s opinion on what I should get her. Maybe Christie could give me a few ideas, she seems like the best source.  
“You look way to serious when you drive Carl.” I hear Mattie say.  
“Well I’m trying to concentrate.”  
“It’s just driving, not rocket science.” She laughs as she leans forward to fidget with the radio.  
“…Broadcast…New Haven…Aaron…Survivors…Shelters…Safety…” We both heard coming from the speakers. That broadcast almost reminded me of Terminus, but the only difference is, I know that New Haven is a safe zone, so does Mattie. We haven’t told anyone else about what happened when we were away those few days. We’re not sure how to tell them due to the fact everyone has a tendency of over reacting.  
“Carl, we’re not that far away if we can hear the broadcast.”  
“Mattie, it’s bouncing off the towers. I’m not even sure where I am right now. We’re not going there by ourselves either.” I know that’s what she was thinking because she sat back in her seat with her arms crossed and pouting. It’s not often when I see her pout, but it’s honestly the cutest thing she does. Reaching over with one hand, I place my hand on her thigh and squeeze gently.  
“Were you two listening to the radio? Over.” I heard Glenn say from the two-way radios. Mattie handed it to me because she has no idea how to use it.  
“Ya we heard it Glenn. What do you want to do about it? Over.” We waited for a few minutes for a response from the other vehicle.  
“We’re telling Rick when we get back. Keep your eyes open though for any signs that might give us an indication where this place might be besides Maine. Over.” I looked at Mattie which was staring intensely out the passenger side window.  
“Ten-four. Over and out.” I said before putting the radio back in the cup holder. I think Mattie could tell I was getting tense from how I was sitting. My dad pointed out that I drive like Daryl which I found extremely weird when he pointed it out. My left elbow is resting on the window and I’m using my right to drive. It’s even worse when I’m rubbing my bottom lip in the process. I felt Mattie’s hand on the back of my neck and she began twirling my hair.  
“You okay?”  
“Ya, I was just thinking.”  
“Well don’t think too hard, you might hurt yourself.” I look over at her and she’s facing forward trying her hardest not to smile. Shaking my head with a slight smile across my face, I focus on the road. With the recent snow and the fact that it’s still cold out, it’s still slick out. I’d rather not hit a patch of black ice and flip the car. I don’t even want to think about that.  
“Hey Carl, you remember where that store was you and Daryl went to when you found Mattie and McKayla? Over.” Glenn asked us.  
“Um, I think its a few miles up this way. I can’t remember though. It’s been a while. Why? Over.”  
“Eugene and Christie wanted to check something quick there for some electronics. Over.”  
“Well, it should be in this direction. We were driving for a little over an hour I think before I spotted it. Over.”  
“Alright. We’ll keep our eyes open. We’re going to stop there first. Over.” I didn’t answer though because there wasn’t a point really. Glenn knew that I heard it. Sometimes it freaks me out using the radios because if anyone is within range, they can pick up on our transmission. I overheard my dad and Daryl talking about that a few times before.  
A little bit after that I saw the building that we found Mattie, McKayla and the rest of the Dixon clan. Glenn radioed in asking if that was it and I said it was. From where I could see, there wasn’t any tire tracks going into the snow covered parking lot which was a good thing. It’s been a while since we’ve been there so who knows what could be in there. Someone could’ve found shelter in there right before the blizzard. Just hopefully it goes smoothly enough like last time.  
I looked over at Mattie for a split second, but apparently it was long for me to lose control of the vehicle. I must’ve hit an ice patch that the vehicle in front of me uncovered. When I felt the back end of the car begin to slide to the left, I turned the steering wheel into that direction. It was at that moment that I realized that there was nothing I could do. I hit another patch and it sent us into the ditch.  
At least we could’ve just crashed into the ditch and hitting the snow in there, but that of course didn’t happen. The worst possible scenario presented itself and we started flipping. I’m guessing we hit a hole that caused our vehicle to begin flipping. I didn’t even see the other vehicle stop in front of us, the only thing I saw was the blur of trees and white. I heard Mattie screaming and the metal of the vehicle being smashed by the impact with the ground.  
We didn’t flip front first, we started to flip starting with my side, then the roof, the Mattie’s side and so on. The first impact made me hit my head on the window. I heard something crack, but I wasn’t sure what it was over everything else that was going on at that moment. I tried to look at Mattie, but there was no use. With how fast the car was flipping, I could hardly move. Then we hit something hard which stopped us from flipping anymore.  
From that sudden impact, I passed out and I’m not sure if Mattie is even alive. I don’t hear her anymore which scares me to no point in time. That’s when I thought about the baby. There’s no way the baby could’ve lived after this. There’s no possible way that it could be, but part of me hopes and prays that we’ll all walk out of this fine.  
“Carl? Carl!” That’s all I heard and everything just stopped. Absolutely everything.


	34. Aftermath

Aftermath  
Daryl’s POV  
I’ve spent most of the morning worrying about Mattie going out with Carl, Glenn, Eugene and Christie. Carol of course noticed and started giving me shit almost instantly. I think she said that if I don’t calm down, I’ll give myself a heart attack or a stroke or something along those lines. She’s probably right, but I won’t stop worrying until she’s home and safe. Hopefully without a single scratch.  
I trust Carl, I really do, but with certain incidents recently, I’m starting to question it. I know he kept her safe while they were stranded from the blizzard, but apparently that resulted in her getting knocked up in the process. This is going to be a stressful day without knowing that she’s indeed safe. At least Rick has me doing something that will keep my mind off of it for a while.  
I’m currently in the basement working on some renovations with him, Tara, Michonne and Sasha. A few of the newcomers are down here helping us as well. Pedro is supposed to be helping, but he’s apparently helping by standing there like a damn bump on a log. That man rubs me the wrong way and I still can’t figure out why. McKayla thinks it’s because he reminds me of Merle, but it’s not because of that, I know it’s not. There’s something about him that’s familiar, but he doesn’t remind me of someone.  
“Hey Daryl, can I talk to you for a second?” Nicolas asks. I put the board down and looked at him.  
“Sure, don’t got anything important going on anyways.”  
“I know that we have our issues for some reason, but whatever it is, can we just play nice until my group leaves. We won’t cause your people any problems.”  
“Sure, as long as you keep your eyes on your brother.” I told him and that’s when it dawned on me. I know where I’ve seen him before. He was wanted for murder of five women down in Florida, but they couldn’t find him. That’s why he looked so familiar. His picture was posted on nearly everything.  
“Ya, I think I can manage that one small request, but I can’t make any promises.” He said before turning sharply and walking away. I waited a minute before I walked over to Rick. He needed to know who he was. Our entire group needed to know before we all ended up dead. It’s psychopaths like these that makes them into men thirsty for blood in this world. Walking over to Rick, he looks up at me right before I grabbed him and forced him around the corner. His eyes widened and he put his hands up, I’m guessing that he thought I was going to hit him or something.  
“Damn Daryl, what the hell is up?”  
“Nicolas’ brother Pedro. I know who he is.” Rick’s mouth went into a straight line and he still looked completely confused.  
“Remember that string of murder cases back in Florida a while before shit hit the fan?”  
“Um ya… Oh shit.” I nodded and he looked directly over at Nicolas and Pedro. They didn’t know we were looking at them at least which was probably a good thing. I don’t think we want them to know that we know who Pedro is right now. We need to think of something. We need to keep everyone in the house safe no matter what. If it results in shedding blood, then so be it. It won’t be my family’s blood that will be spilt though. It will be there’s.  
Mattie’s POV  
Everything happened so fast. The blur of trees and snow that seemed absolutely endless. The sound of the vehicle being crashed with each impact from hitting the ground. My heart nearly stopping when I started thinking of the baby growing inside of me. Then Carl’s blue eyes closing when the top of the car hit something hard on the roof. I have no idea what it was though, but I’m guessing it was a tree.  
I was awake throughout the entire accident. I saw Carl hit his head as I was screaming and holding on for dear life. The side windows are shattered, but the front window is intact to a point. Its safety glass, so when it shatters, it does this kind of cool spider web effect. That’s when I felt something dropping on my face.  
Wiping it off to look at it and it took me a minute to realize what it was. The crimson liquid that was on my finger was coming from Carl. I looked up and saw that Carl had a decent size gash across his forehead. My heart stopped and I tried my hardest to get out, but I was stuck. Then I heard everyone’s voices coming from outside of the vehicle.  
“You two alright in there?” Yelled Christie.  
“I’m fine. Carl’s head is bleeding and he’s knocked out.” I told them and I felt the car rocking. Glenn popped his head in the driver’s side window. He yelled out at Christie to get the kit and whatever fabric we might have in the car.  
“Can you get out?” Glenn yelled at me and I shook my head no. He proceeded to drop a knife down so I could cut myself free. I’d use my knife, but I put it in the back with everything else. I finally cut myself free and managed to stand up slightly so I could get a good look at Carl. The gash on his head was from the lowest part of his temple to the highest point of his forehead. Glenn’s attention was taken away for a minute when we heard someone else’s voice. I couldn’t see anything from where I was though. It was a man’s voice though and it sounded familiar. Glenn told me to put pressure on Carl’s wound.  
“Carl, please wake up. I can’t do this without you either.” I said as I put my fingers to his neck to check his pulse. My heart sank slightly when I felt his heart beating steady which actually surprised me.  
“How bad is it?” The man said as I heard the voice get closer.  
“It’s bad. If he lives, he’s going to have one nasty scar.” That’s when I heard something poking into the windshield to remove it. I kind of jumped, but I knew it was just so whoever it was could help us out.  
“Mattie.” I heard Carl whisper. I looked back at him and his eyes were barely open.  
“Shhh. I have you. Just relax. You’re okay.” I said putting my hand on his cheek that was facing down towards the ground.  
“Mattie…marry…”  
“Mattie?” I turned around when I heard my name and a man was standing outside of the car. It took me a minute to realize who it was, but when I did, I couldn’t believe my eyes. He really is alive.  
“Uncle Aaron?” Then everything went dark. I felt fine, but apparently I wasn’t. I’ve heard stories about you don’t know what’s really wrong with you until the adrenaline dissipates and you suddenly feel every single ounce of pain everywhere in your body. That’s exactly what happened to me.   
McKayla’s POV  
You know when you’re stuck in one place for too long you begin to feel trapped? Well that’s exactly what I’m dealing with right now and it’s seriously starting to drive me nuts. Of course I’m moving around the house, but I’m confined in this damn wheel chair and it’s annoying. I’d do absolutely anything to be able to freely walk around. Absolutely anything and that’s saying something.  
I’m trying my hardest not to get myself into a depressed state and give up because that won’t be good. People that give up in any situation means they don’t have any fight left in them. I have a million things to fight for. I have Mattie, DJ and Daryl, just to name a few. Plus, I want to see that baby when it’s born. My mama wasn’t there when I got pregnant because she died a couple years prior to that. I’ll be here to welcome my grandchild into the world, no matter what.  
“Sweetie, do you want to get up and stretch your legs?” I heard Carol say from behind me after placing a hand on my shoulder.  
“I can’t walk by myself Carol and we don’t exactly have a walker in this place.”  
“Well that’s a good thing we don’t have a walker in here.” Carol said and for a minute I was confused by what she said. Then it dawned on me, that’s what they call the infected. I started laughing and Carol stood in front of me holding out her hands. Taking a deep breath, I locked the chair and grabbed her hands before standing up.  
“Take it easy.” Carol said and when I got my footing down as well as possible the front door flew open. Glenn was standing there in the doorway freaking out. Christie and Eugene followed in shortly after. I looked up at Carol completely and utterly confused on what’s going on. Glenn walked up to me with a look in his eyes that made my heart sink.  
“Glenn, if you’re about to tell me that my daughter is dead, just tell me.” His mouth went in a straight line and he looked down.  
“McKayla.” My attention was brought to a figure in the doorway. The outside light was so bright that my eyes could hardly adjust, then he came in closer.  
“Aaron?” I said and he smiled. My legs almost gave out right from underneath me, but with Carol holding me up with every ounce of strength she had, she managed to get me back in the chair. Aaron came closer to me and knelt down in front of me and placed a hand on my cheek. Then he wrapped his arms around me and picked me up. The tears started to run down my face.  
“You have no idea how long I’ve been looking for you.” I heard him say, but it was cut short when someone else came in carrying Mattie.  
“Aaron! I got the girl. Flan and Mathey are getting the boy. I have no idea where we’re taking them.” Everything happened so fast. Everyone that was originally downstairs began flooding the entire upstairs. I never saw who was moving passed me. My eyes were focused on my daughters limp body in the guy’s arms. I know Raymond and Aiden rushed them down the hallway and Carol followed them. Rosita, Maggie and Tara even followed them. Aaron was still standing in front of him, but his eyes were looking behind me. I turned my wheelchair around to see Daryl standing behind me with his eyes wide open. He must be in complete shock with everything that’s going on right now. This wasn’t what I expected.


	35. Unexpected Situations

Unexpected Situations  
Aaron’s POV  
It has been four years since we arrived at the New Haven Safe Zone in Maine and a lot has happened in four years. Izzie and I got married shortly after I became the leader and surprisingly enough no one made a fuss about me killing Brett. Everyone in the entire community actually cheered after I made my little speech which wasn’t something I expected at all. I wasn’t really sure what I was expecting after I made that speech though, but that was better than violence. I came to realize that violence isn’t always the situation, but for some reason that’s what it comes down to.  
We’ve had a few incidents over the past few years with other groups wanting to take what’s ours. I’ve offered a peaceful solution, but the leader refused to budge. It resulted in us using heavy artillery on them which at first I didn’t like. Now, it’s something that I had to deal with to keep my family and the community safe from the outside. Of course that resulted in us getting unwanted attention from the infected, but it’s came with the territory with living in this world.  
My family has grown besides Izzie, myself and Taylor, especially since we couldn’t legally adopt him because there isn’t a legal system anymore. Taylor has grown up and is now standing nearly as tall as I am. I still remember that kid that I met four years ago in the computer room. He was this teenager that was still grieving over the loss of his entire family. For some reason I saw a part of me in him that I didn’t realize that was there until recently.  
Taylor reminds me so much of myself when I was seventeen that it actually scares me. At least he’s smart though because we’ve kept the education on a high list of priorities. Even in this day and age, we still want the younger generation to know something. The adults have learned enough that we can teach the children what they need to know. Taylor actually helps in teaching at the school we renovated for them.  
“Hey Aaron, have you seen the history book? I put it on the kitchen table last night and now I can’t find it.” Taylor asks me standing in the doorway of my bedroom.  
“Dude, ask Izzie. You know she moves shit every five seconds.” I hear him huff and yell down the hall. For some reason with this pregnancy Izzie is on a cleaning frenzy. The last time she was pregnant, she was so tired that she could hardly function properly, but I guess that comes with the territory when you’re pregnant with twins.  
We found out Izzie was pregnant shortly after we got married. I had a feeling that she was shortly before we knew for sure due to the fact we didn’t use protection the first time we had sex. We asked for it, but not in a million years did we ever think it was going to be twins. Whit hooked up the ultrasound machine and just like that, we saw two blobs pop up on the screen. Of course, I took that moment to laugh almost hysterically. Apparently being in that situation I laugh.  
“Hey Whit’s at the door and he’s asking for you.” Taylor says standing in the doorway once again.  
“Alright. Hey, where’s the twins?”  
“With Lisa and Flan. Izzie is getting ready to head to the school and so am I. So you’re on your own here.” He says turning around. I got up in record time and got my new prosthetic leg on just as fast. One of the members of the community was able to make a customized leg for me. I can run, jump and kneel if I need to. It can withstand my weight so I no longer need to use a cane. Whit of course used to check the site almost daily for inflammation, but I haven’t had one single problem with it. Hell I can even drive with this on which is amazing.  
I walked down the hall to where Whit was waiting for me. He was standing by the kitchen table with a serious look on his face. I knew if it was something like an outbreak within the community, he would already let me know by telling Taylor or Izzie. There’s something going on, but I need some coffee in my system first. Certain things can wait until I have something in me.  
“I see that you’re finally back.” I said pouring my coffee and offering him some.  
“I think I might need something stronger than that, you might need it too.” I turned around to look at him and his face was unreadable.  
“Whit, what the hell is going on?”  
“While I was there, two teenagers stumbled upon the cabin. A male and a female. The female though was injured horribly, but I patched her up.”  
“Whit, you’re speaking in riddles. Just tell me.”  
“The female’s name is Mattie.” When he said that name my heart nearly stopped and my eyes started to water. I’m not an emotional man, but after four years and not one single sign of your family until today. I started to feel slightly dizzy so I pulled out a chair and sat down.  
“Are they with you?”  
“No, they went back to their group six weeks ago.”  
“Six weeks? They might not be there anymore. Why didn’t you keep them there or go with them back to their group?” I yelled as I stood up and slammed my hands on the table. Whit of course didn’t react to my small outburst. They don’t happen often at all which is probably a good thing. Whit says it’s good for someone to have a small outburst once in a while, it helps to keep the sanity intact.  
“Aaron, I told the boy about you. I’m not sure if he told her yet though. I’m not even sure if their group even knows about us yet. We just need to relax and wait.”  
“Do you know where their group is?” I asked him and his eyes widened slightly because he already knew what I was thinking. It might be a dumb idea, but I need to see it for myself.  
“Yea I do.” He says reaching behind him and placing a map down in front of me. I opened it up and saw where he marked. The house where they’re staying at is about a mile northeast of the cabin where Whit goes on occasion. He pats me on the shoulder and wishes me luck. Then I told him that he’s coming with me just in case and he agreed.  
A while later after Izzie and Taylor got home, I let them in on the news. Izzie was excited for me because she knows them through pictures and stories, same as Taylor. Taylor said that he’d go with, which I figured he would anyways. Next thing I knew, I was getting Flan and Mathey as well. We don’t need a team to go see if they are in fact still there. With me being there and hopefully Daryl, McKayla and Merle are still alive as well besides just Mattie.  
With it being the afternoon, we decided to leave bright and early tomorrow morning around five in the morning. It will take us roughly six hours to get there if we don’t run into unknown complications. Sometimes we’re never sure what to expect when we start heading out on the road. There’s a difference in situations though, that not many people realize. When it gets to the point where it’s flight or fight, flight is usually better, but it doesn’t always turn out that way.  
The truck was packed up and ready to by four in the morning. Flan and Mathey barely got any sleep the night before since it’s been a while since they left the confines of the community. We couldn’t leave because of how bad it’s been snowing up here. We’ve gotten kind of used to the snow, but without a snowplow, we can’t just leave and start going on wild goose chases. Which is kind of what we’re doing with Whit’s information, but it’s worth it.  
We left earlier than I originally anticipated which is a good thing. If we run into any problem while we’re out we’ll be able to detour around it as much as possible. I’m happy that we still have a GPS system that works with the satellites that are still functioning somehow. Whatever the reason may be for them to be working still doesn’t matter. They’ve helped us a lot throughout the past few years.  
We didn’t have any complications in the first five hours of driving until we saw a car flipping in the distance. Taylor looked at me and I nodded in agreement. I saw in the review mirror Flan, Mathey and Whit tense up. I took a deep breath and pulled over to the side of the road.  
There was three people standing outside next to the vehicle that had flipped, but one of them was on top of the car looking in. From where we parked, I could see two men and a woman. The woman turned around and yelled something to the man that was on top of the car. He looked into the direction and he looked familiar, but I’m not sure why. I got out of the car just as they started walking close to us.  
“We don’t want any problems. Two of our people got in an accident.” Said the Asian man as he stood a few feet from me.  
“I see that. Do you guys need any help? We have a doctor?”  
“That would be great. Thank you.” Said the Hispanic woman that looked almost relieved by my offer. I waved everyone over and one by one they filed out of the truck. Whit walked over and looked at everyone before nodding.  
“Taylor go back to the truck and get a crowbar. We need to get that windshield off so we can get them out.” He nods and runs over to the truck.  
“How bad is it?”  
“She’s fine and standing, but he’s not doing well. If he lives, he’s going to have one nasty scar.” He said that as Taylor brought me the crowbar. I could see through the window and I saw the girl standing there with her back turned to me holding up a rag to his head. Shoving the end of the crowbar into the glass, I broke the glass and took it out. She jumped, but it’s due to the fact that we didn’t give her a heads up before doing so. That’s when I heard the boy say Mattie and my heart dropped to the pit of my stomach. Then she turned around and her face went expressionless.  
“Mattie?”  
“Uncle Aaron?” Then she collapsed and I had just enough time to catch her before she landed on the safety glass from the windshield.  
“Whit! I need you!” I pulled her out and Taylor laid down a blanket on the road. Whit came over and knelt down beside her.  
“How do you know her name?” The Asian man asked from behind me.  
“She’s my niece.”  
“Wait, your Aaron? McKayla’s brother?” The Hispanic woman said. I turned around and looked at her before nodding my answer. When I looked back, Whit’s face was blank and I looked down to see what it was. Mattie’s stomach was black and blue which meant only one thing, internal bleeding.  
“How far away is your camp from here and do you have any medical equipment?”  
“It’s not that far, but how are we going to get them there without doing any more damage?” The Asian man asked.  
“Taylor clear out the back of the truck and get another blanket. Flan, Mathey and whoever else, get the boy out of there and lay him down on the blanket. We’ll use them to transfer them to the truck.” Everyone worked as quickly and efficiently as possible. Within five minutes the truck was cleared out and we had both of them in there. Whit climbed in back and started hooking them up to the equipment we already had in there.  
“I’m Glenn by the way.” The Asian said walking up to me. I nodded and we got into the vehicles. We started the vehicles up and Glenn turned around before taking off. I followed him and we got back to their group as quickly as we possibly could. Glenn got out of the vehicle first and ran directly up to the house, the other two shortly followed them. I told everyone to get them inside as quick as possible before getting out myself. Walking inside, I saw McKayla getting held up by a gray haired woman.  
“McKayla.” I said loud enough for her attention to be brought directly to me. Her legs gave out as soon as she said my name. The gray haired woman was able to get her into the wheelchair that was behind her. I walked over to her and knelt before reaching my hand up to touch her face. As soon as I did that, my arms wrapped around her waist and I stood up with her still in my arms. She started crying into my neck as she wrapped her arms around my neck.  
“You have no idea how long I’ve been looking for you.” I told her and that’s when I heard footsteps. I turned around to see Taylor walking in carrying Mattie. From that point on it was complete chaos throughout the house. Members from the group in the house started rushing passed us and the rest of my group starting bringing in the boy. I stopped when I saw Daryl standing there in the entry way of the kitchen staring directly at me. Putting McKayla back down in her chair, I walk around McKayla to Daryl. Shaking my head slightly, I grabbed the back of his neck and gave him a hug. I don’t give a shit on how this might look. He’s my brother and I’ve missed him. I was surprised when he actually returned the hug. It took me a minute to realize that Merle wasn’t around though. I broke the hug and looked at Daryl.  
“Where’s Merle?” I asked and he immediately looked down. In that single moment, I realized that Merle was dead and I didn’t need to hear it from him. At least I got part of my family back, but it might’ve been too late to have the reunion I dreamt of. I guess unexpected situations are part of life now.


	36. What Now?

What Now?  
Daryl’s POV  
It all happened so fast, that I couldn’t even comprehend what was going on right away. I’m not even sure anyone in the house could comprehend what was going on. First I was standing in the basement with Rick, talking to him about Pedro. The next, everyone was running upstairs after hearing the commotion that no one was prepared for. Once again, tragedy fell upon the group and there was nothing either of us could do about it. I wasn’t sure what I was going to walk in on when I ran up the stairs and through the kitchen. The last thing I expected was seeing Aaron, my brother in law, hugging McKayla. Time seemed to stop and I felt like I was going to drop to the ground. I saw Aaron sit McKayla back down in her chair and walk over to me, but I never felt his hug. Then he backs up and looks at me.  
“Where’s Merle?” He asked and I immediately looked down. I think it registered in his mind that my brother is dead and nothing will ever be the same again. Being a family for as long as we have been, non-verbal communication is something you learn. McKayla and I had it from almost day one. When the front door swung open again, my entire world shattered like it did four years ago. My little girl is being carried in and being escorted into the infirmary by Carol. The scene almost reminds me of me carrying Beth out of the Hospital in Atlanta. My mind immediately starts flashing back to that day and I need to get it out of my head. Your daughter isn’t Beth. Beth is dead. Your daughter is alive. A chant that I had to say in order to keep my mind set to reality. When nothing else seemed to matter, Carl is being carried in and my heart sank once again. I watched this kid grow up over the years. His Father is like a brother to me. He’s my daughter’s boyfriend, which I still find weird, but there’s nothing I can do about it. Then Rick see’s Carl and all of rational thinking is out the window just as fast as this situation currently in front of us.  
“What the hell happened?” I asked using the calmest voice I could possibly bare.  
“They were in an accident. I’m guessing they hit a patch of ice. Mattie was alert for a while, but then she collapsed.” Aaron told me and I started walking towards where they took them, but he stopped me. Rick came down the hallways shaking his head. I moved Aaron’s arm out of the way just in time to see Rick drop to the ground.  
“How bad is Carl?”  
“He has a gash on his forehead. His eyes are at least dilating, but that man said there isn’t much they can do unless we get him back to New Haven.” I put my hand on Rick’s shoulder and squeezed it before standing up. Walking back over to Aaron, who was still standing next to McKayla, I decided to get information out of him now.  
“What do you have at New Haven that we obviously don’t have?”  
“Well, we have an actual hospital and equipment for starters. X-ray machine, cat-scan, MRI, everything.” I couldn’t believe what he said. How in the world could they possibly have all of that? We heard the doors to the infirmary open and an older man walk around the corner towards us. The look that was in his eyes and stretched across his face seemed to be the look of every parent’s worst nightmare. My heart seemed to have sank directly to the pit of my stomach and apparently McKayla was feeling the same way because she grabbed ahold of my hand to squeeze it. What could be going on now?  
Aaron’s POV  
Luck, seems to be something everyone is lacking over the past few years. You can have a lucky streak of not getting bit, no one dying in your group, or any other kind of tragedy. Sooner or later, your luck will run out and the only question that will be on your mind then is, what now? What do you do when everyone you once loved dies? When the only thing you hope for is to be bit and hopefully they kill you before the fever sits in. You know, dying quickly than slow and painfully seems like a better way to go than to get eaten alive, but that’s just my opinion. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. My niece didn’t get bit by one of the infected. She didn’t come down with some sort of sickness that we don’t have the cure for. She was in a car accident, which when you sit there and think about it, it’s nearly unheard of this day and age. A car accident not caused by someone’s stupidity. It was a car accident caused by Mother Nature herself.   
Whit told us that Mattie is suffering from internal bleeding and that he has her stomach compressed with plastic wrap. Never thought that would be a use for plastic wrap, but it is the world we live in. Now, the bottom line is, we need to get Mattie to New Haven so she has a chance to live. That means I have to call my pregnant hormonal wife so she can fly the helicopter here. I know that she’ll do it, but it’s the area that we’re in that she’s not going to be happy about.  
Taking a deep breath to collect myself, I walk away from all the chatter that’s been accumulating the past several minutes. Reaching into my bag, I grab the satellite phone that we’ve been using to communicate when were out on runs. We’re not sure how or even why these are still functional, but we’re not complaining. The last thing I expected when I took this out though was the look on everyone’s faces. It’s like I’m in the Stone Age and they’ve never seen this form of technology before in their lives. Just like all the other satellite phones we have, the numbers are programed in each phone. Pulling up on the antenna until I hear it click. Just something that it does so that I know it’s actually functioning properly, it lights up signaling me that it’s working. I pushed one on the dial pad before pushing the talk button. It’s started ringing and by the third ring, Izzie answers.  
“What’s wrong?” Izzie says as soon as she picks up.  
“I don’t have a lot of time to explain. I found them, but we have a medical emergency. I need the helicopter.” I told her and I heard her take a deep breath.  
“How bad is it?”  
“Mattie has internal bleeding. Tell them to start prepping for an emergency surgery. You might need to bring one more Doctor with you in the process.”  
“Alright, but Aaron, you know how many people I can carry in this helicopter. I’m not about to bring the entire group back and have it go down because of a weight issue.”  
“I know, Izzie, just get here quick. I’ll talk to them about the seating arrangements. Worse case, some of the group members will have to drive to New Haven.” After we hung up, I explained to everyone what was going on and what was to happen. It was something that was necessary and everyone needed to understand what was to happen when the helicopter got here. Everyone seemed to be onboard, but someone stood out of the crowd and it took me a minute to figure out why. When I did, I rude awakening was about to fall upon this group and I prayed no one will be caught in the crossfire.  
McKayla’s POV  
A combination of utter exhaustion and a complete shutdown of cognitive thought has set it. While everyone is running around the house like chickens with their heads chopped off, I’m sitting in my wheelchair unable to go anywhere. Aaron called his wife, which surprised me to no point in time, and he told her to fly the helicopter to retrieve us. Unfortunately, not everyone will be able to go inside of it. So, Aaron told us, unless you have a medical condition or you’re a parent of one of the critical, you have to drive. That means, myself, Daryl, Rick, Judith, and DJ will be going into the helicopter. I did tell him that Maggie, Glenn and the baby should be allowed to come as well. Aaron said that he’ll have to discuss it with Izzie when she gets here. As Aaron was speaking I noticed his stance changing as the new members of the group walked in. When his eyes fell upon Nicolas, it changed even more. Nicolas, Pedro and Adam disappeared at that moment and I decided to follow them in the wheelchair. Of course, if they were to go upstairs or down into the basement I wouldn’t be able to follow, but they ended up going outside. I watched them stop right outside of Christie and Raymond’s room and decided to see if I could hear what they were up to.  
“He’s here and he already spotted us. Nicolas, what are we going to do?” I heard Adam say first.  
“I’m thinking.”  
“Seems to me that you need to think harder little brother.” Pedro replied.  
“You know what, we wouldn’t even be in this fucking predicament if you could just keep your dick to yourself for once. But no, when Pedro gets drunk and a pretty girl comes to view, he just has to fuck her into submission. This is turning into Florida all over again.” The tone in Nicolas’ voice began to make me feel uneasy. I had no idea Pedro was even capable of doing something like that, but honestly, it does make a lot of sense.  
“You two need to stop fightin’ and come wit’ a bloody plan before we all get killed. I have a son to think about here.”  
“We could always go with the herd idea. We’ve been trapping them for months now.” My heart stopped at that moment and I had no idea what to even do. I started to wheel myself back to the group, but I was cut short when I rolled directly into Aiden. The look in his eyes made my heart sink into the pit of my stomach and then he smiled.  
“McKayla, what exactly do you think you are doing?”  
“Um, Christie wanted me to get her something.”  
“Oh really? What would that be?” It was in that moment I realized that there was no way I was going to make it out of this. Aiden knew I was lying from the beginning. The only thing I could do was to scream, but he could honestly put a bullet in my head before that.  
“Aiden, I know what the plan is. You hurt me in any way, my husband and my brother will kill you.”  
“He can try, but the way I see it, you even make a noise, you will wish you never did. You’re about to get the ride of your life McKayla and all of us are going to take our turn.” As soon as he said that, Nicolas, Pedro and Adam came in from outside to see Aiden standing in front of me. The only thought in my head was, what now?


	37. Your Idea of Limbo

Your Idea of Limbo  
Mattie’s POV  
I remember the amount of pain I was in when I passed out. I remember hearing everyone yelling my name. Arms wrapping around me and pulling me. My body being lifted up in the air and then being laid down on something soft, but hard at the same time. My entire body being cold, damp and warm at the same time, which I never thought was possible.  
Now, I’m lying in a field surrounded by wild flowers of a large variety. Sounds of birds chirping in the distance along with several other wild life as well. The heat of the sun radiating on my skin as the wind blows swiftly across my body. Petals from the flowers are being carried by the wind and dancing in front of me as I sit up. That’s when I notice that the field stretches out as far as I can see.  
I’m alone though, which is making my heart beat faster. Then I hear chatting coming from behind me, but I can’t get myself to turn around for some reason. Maybe of not knowing what could possibly be there. That’s when I notice that it’s a woman’s voice and a man’s voice. The man’s voice stuck out though from the woman’s, but I can’t figure out why.  
Finally, after several minutes of just sitting, I possessed myself to stand up before turning around. They were walking out of the woods behind me, but the sun was shining directly at them. Gradually they began to focus and I noticed the woman was wearing a blue dress. The man was wearing boots, jeans and a black short sleeved buttoned up shirt. Finally they both came into full focus, but I only recognized one of them.  
“Merle?” I said.  
“Hey Kiddo.” He said with a smile and I ran directly to him. Throwing my arms around his neck, his arms wrapped around my back and squeezed. He put me down and I looked at him for the first time in four years, but he looks the same as the day he left.  
“I don’t understand. Where am I?”  
“See, I told you she would be confused.” The woman said standing next to us. She way young and pretty with blonde hair and blue eyes.  
“Oh, shut up, will ya Blondie.” Merle’s tone was harsh towards her, but she brushed it off like it didn’t even both her.  
“Merle, how about you just explain to your niece what’s going on before I do.” She tells him looking up at him with an annoyed look on her face.  
“I was gettin’ to that. If you’d give me a sec I would’ve.” I hear her huff while rolling her eyes. I’m still not sure who she is, but I patiently wait for some kind of answers from my Uncle and I’m growing more and more impatient by the minute.  
“Okay, so here’s the deal. You’re in Limbo, well your idea of Limbo that is. Beth and I are here to keep you company.” My mind took a little longer than I expected to interpret what he just told me. I understand Merle being here, but I’ve never met Beth, so why would she be here. Honestly, I would think my idea of Limbo would be a comfy bed next to Carl, but apparently I was wrong. That’s when everything clicked.  
“Wait, I was in an accident. Am I dead?”  
“No sweetie, you’re not dead. You’re just in a place where you can stay until you decide.” Beth tells me and I look at her trying to figure out what she means by that.  
“Decide on what?” I ask.  
“If ya want to live or not.” Merle tells me and my heart nearly stops. My eyes fill up with tears as my stomach begins to churn. I could feel my chest begin to burn. Next thing I knew, I’m vomiting in the bushes that I rushed to. I feel a hand on my back, which I swatted away. Once I was done, I turned back around and they were both looking at me.  
“What makes you two think I don’t want to live. I’m in love with Carl and I’m pregnant…” Merle looks away when I say that and I put my hand on my stomach. The small bump that I knew was there before the accident was no longer there. If this was my idea of Limbo, I would think my subconscious would think that I’m pregnant.  
“I lost it didn’t I?” I ask them and Beth nodded. I hit the ground and began to sob after pulling my knees to my chest. This isn’t my idea of Limbo. This is hell and I want to go home. I want to be back in Carl’s arms. I want to be with my family. I don’t want to be here anymore. I want to wake up and this was all just a dream.  
“I can’t leave them.”  
“Then you have to figure out how to wake up.” I hear Beth tell me.  
“How do I figure that out?”  
“It’s something that you have to figure out on your own, but we can assist you.” Beth says first.  
“We just can’t tell you how.” Merle says after her. It’s like my entire world just shattered into a million pieces. I want to wake up. I need to wake up. I just don’t know how. My entire body feels numbs.  
Standing up after a long time sitting down, I wipe the tears that have fallen down my face away and walk passed Beth and Merle. I’m still sort of confused about my idea of Limbo. I’m trying my hardest not to dwell on it though because I have other issues that are present. Like figuring out a way to wake up for one. I turn back around and see them talking.  
“Okay, I understand why Merle is here, but why are you here? I’ve never met you, I’ve never seen a picture of you.”  
“You might’ve never met me sweetie, but I was part of your life indirectly. I gave you all signs to find each other after I died. Just like Merle tempted to, but he sucks at it.” Merle huffs at that comment, but I’m still confused. I left that conversation after that and began walking away. I’m not sure where I’m going or even where I can go. This field that I’ve been standing in is large and I can’t see anything other than the trees behind me, plus the faint outline of more trees to my left and right. I just need to find a place to think about what I’m going to do. If that’s even possible right now.  
Carl’s POV  
My heart was beating what felt like a million miles an hour. It took me a while to even realize that it wasn’t even my heart, but it was actually my head. This has got to be the worst headache I’ve ever had. I’ve had a few headaches here and there over the past four years, but I think it comes with the territory of lack of sleep, water and food most of the time. This one was different though. This one was brought on by something, but I can’t remember exactly what it was. It took my body to adjust to what I was currently laying on. It was hard, but sort of soft. It almost seemed familiar, but I couldn’t figure out why. The faint smell of musk, more like mold, was being over powered by the smell of rotting flesh. Once again, something that was familiar to me. Then I opened my eyes and the realization of where I am, came to focus. I’m lying in my old bunk back at the prison. The only difference is, I knew I was alone because I couldn’t hear anything. There wasn’t the usual conversation that was surrounding the cell block. It was just absolutely quiet which made me nervous. Then it dawned on me, why and how did I get back to the prison. Rolling of the bunk, I stand and look in the mirror to look at me. I look the same as I did this morning when I looked in the mirror. I didn’t turn back in time and I was fourteen again, which was a good thing. My hair was still as long as it was. The small amount of facial hair was still the same. The only difference is, I didn’t have my hat. That’s when I heard someone walking up towards the catwalk. I didn’t want to walk out of my cell because I was afraid of what I’d even find. The prison was over-run and I had a feeling that it was a walker. I didn’t have any weapons, at least from what I could see. There was no weapons on me. Closing my eyes and taking a deep breath, was the only thing I could do to work up enough courage just to see who was walking towards me. Walking towards the entrance to the catwalk from my cell, my heart feels like it’s on the verge of exploding out of my chest. My brain feels like it can burst open at any moment as well. That’s when I smell the scent of perfume, but it was a fruity scent. It smelt familiar and it took me a minute to figure out why it seemed so familiar. Turning the corner, a brunette woman is standing there and my legs give out from underneath me.  
“Carl.” I hear her say, but I can’t look back up. Then when I thought it couldn’t get any more messed up, her hands are on my face making me look up. My eyes are closed though, I don’t want to look.  
“Look at me, Carl.”  
“No.” I say.  
“Carl, you listen to your mother.” Said a man that I haven’t heard since the farm. I open my eyes and look at them both.  
“My mother is dead and so are you Shane.” I swat away her hands and stand up. My jaw is tense and my heart is no longer beating. The pain in my head is gone. I feel numb and that’s all that I feel right now. I feel a hand on my shoulder, but once again I swat it away before turning around.  
“Stop touching me. You’re not here. Same with you. This is just a dream and I’m going to wake up.” I move passed both of them and head down the stairs. Opening the door to the cell block and walking into the room where we’d eat. This is a damn nightmare, three people that should be dead, aren’t dead. He turns around and smiles at me which made me run out of the cell block and outside as fast as I possibly could. The sun is shining bright and I no longer smell rotting flesh. I smell flowers, fresh air, and grass. It’s the smell of nature and for once, it’s peaceful. Birds are chirping and whistling a song in the woods. It took me a minute to realize that I’m not in the confines of the prison anymore. I’m standing in a field and someone is walking towards me. I just can’t tell who it is because the sun is shining way too bright behind them. Whoever it is, they’re wearing a long white dress, but I can only see the bottom half. It’s obvious it’s a woman that’s walking towards me, but who is the underlining question. Gradually she became in focus and she’s blonde. That’s when I figured out who it was and my heart skips a beat. I almost forgot what happened and all at once it all came back to me. Mattie and I were in an accident while we were on a run. We hit a patch of black ice and the car flipped. The only explanation I have for what’s going on is that I’m dead and so is Mattie. I failed at keeping her safe. I failed at promising her parents that I’d keep her safe. My knees give out once again and I hit the ground hard. Tears are filling my eyes, but they’re not escaping.  
“Carl.” I hear her say and I look up to see her smiling at me.  
“Mattie, I’m sorry.”  
“For what? You didn’t do anything. I’m still alive and so are you. We’re just sleeping, that’s all.” She says before kneeling down in front of me and taking my face in her hands. An electric surge went straight through my entire body which made me close my eyes. When I opened them back up, she was still looking back at me with that gorgeous smile of hers.  
“How long are we going to be like this?” Mattie took that moment to stand up and begin to walk away. She stopped though and reached out her hand. I stood up and walked to her to grab ahold of her hand.  
“We both need to confront our demons before we can go back. Especially you.” Mattie tells me as she turns around to look at me. My heart feels like its beating a million miles an hour. I didn’t say anything after that, but followed her into the unknown. Eventually, we came back to the prison that I ran from before finding her. My mother and Shane are both standing there and my legs stop moving. Mattie turns around and tells me that everything will be fine. So, I take a deep breath and confront the two people that’s caused a majority of my demons. My mother met us and she pulled me into her arms. This fells so surreal that my mind and body are fighting every urge I possess not to break free and run. I would honestly do this in a heartbeat, but if I want to wake up, I have to face my demons.  
“Carl, you’ve turned into such a handsome young man. You have no idea how proud I am to call you my son.” My mom began to tear up when she looked at me. Shane was still standing a couple feet away, with his head down, but looking up at us.  
“Thank you, but I don’t need to hear you say that you’re proud of me.” It seemed to me like that hurt her, but it’s the truth. That’s when she backed up and turned around walking away from me before placing a hand on Shane’s shoulder. Shane walked to me then and tried to open his arms to hug me. I put my hands up in retaliation. There is no way that I will let the man that tried to kill my father touch me.  
“There is absolutely nothing you can say to me that will change the way I feel about you Shane. You were dead to me the moment I put that bullet through your skull at the farm. You started the demons.” I told him and then he nodded before turning around. I watched as my mother and Shane both disappeared. A wave of relief washed over me and when I turned back around, Mattie was standing there with tears rolling down her cheeks. It took me a minute to realize that she was fading into oblivion. I closed my eyes, but when I opened them, she was gone and I was laying in the infirmary. My idea of limbo is living in this world without Mattie and that’s what I’ll going to have to do.


End file.
